Possumblog

Wow.

Germany convicted of misusing county funds

Former Jefferson County Commissioner Jeff Germany was convicted this morning of using taxpayer money for personal gain.

He was convicted on four counts of misapplying county funds and one count of conspiracy. [...]

Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Meadows had described Germany as a corrupt public official who manipulated a legitimate nonprofit agency to enrich himself, a co-conspirator, his wife, former girlfriends and other friends using thousands of taxpayer dollars set aside for use in his district.

Raymond Johnson, Germany’s lawyer, countered that Germany, who served from 1998 to 2002, did nothing illegal and was a dedicated public servant with a good heart in the county’s largest and poorest district. [...]

Germany was accused of illegally funneling discretionary funds through the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity, then giving instructions for new checks to be cut and the money to be passed on to other recipients he designated. [...]

Well, I'll be. Frankly, even though I was sure of the prosecution's case and thought he was guilty, it's gotten to where I have little faith that a jury will convict in these types of cases, going back to what I said about the Scrushy Siegelman Sircus going on down in Montgomery, that is, that juries seem to increasingly be willing to believe that criminals write down explicit instructions about all the crimes they want people to go commit for them.

IN this instance, though, it seems that they could see for themselves the connections, and were able to convict him.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at June 14, 2006 12:17 PM