He May Never Come Back
I don't have the privilege of being privy to specific details concerning this case. But from the outside looking in it looks like Elbert Jefferson has pulled a fast one on the city again. Considering the councilmen that made it possible. This might be another backroom deal on one hand. A bit of fast talking and buying time on the other one.From the beginning I have always thought Elbert Jefferson was a bit of a sacrificial lamb. In the end he will end up taking the blame for all the questionable fees that were paid to outside attorneys over the last five or six years. He will lose his job but he won't go to jail. Robert Spence, Jerome Wilkins and Alan Wade will get away Scott free. The book will be closed and we'll move on to something else. Even if it has been going on all the time.
I think once again the D.A. sees the writing on the wall. You can't take for granted justice will prevail in this case. With his latest move Jefferson got the city between a rock and a hard place. Now they can't fire him until he comes back to work. Bill Gibbons might be making his move too late. He may never come back.
posted by Common at
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He earns $125,135 annually as city attorney.
More than 4,400 call in for Steve Cohen conference
When Memphis City Atty. Elbert Jefferson responded last year to a subpoena issued by a federal grand jury investigating his boss, then-Mayor Willie Herenton, he told the FBI there were no city records to turn over.
Jefferson's response now raises questions following the recent discovery of batches of city e-mails and paper records.
Those records, kept in city filing cabinets and on city computers, involve the very thing the grand jury has been investigating for more than a year -- Herenton's secret financial interest in a city plan to redevelop Greyhound's Downtown bus station site.
One legal expert said Friday that Jefferson, already under state and federal investigation for authorizing city payment of Herenton's personal legal fees, could face more legal trouble.
"A subpoena requires you to make a reasonable effort to find the stuff and be aggressive about it," said Neil P. Cohen, a retired University of Tennessee law professor.
Jefferson, who has been out sick for two weeks, did not respond to calls made to his cell phone or a message left with his attorney.
The grand jury issued a subpoena on April 29, 2008, to the "Custodian of Records, City of Memphis" demanding copies of "all correspondence ... regarding any negotiations" involving plans to relocate Greyhound's bus terminal on Union Avenue.
The subpoena specifically sought records relating to the building of a new station near the airport as well as the disposal of the Downtown property on Union that Greyhound was to vacate.
Herenton is under investigation for profiting from the deal by mixing his public and private duties.
As mayor, Herenton urged Greyhound to move into a new, publicly financed $16.5 million station under development near Memphis International Airport. As a private real estate developer, Herenton also obtained and then sold -- for $91,000 -- an option to purchase Greyhound's Downtown property.
Since Herenton's July 30 resignation, numbers of documents have been located in City Hall, including a copy of the 2004 option contract to buy the Downtown site from Greyhound.
The newly located records also include correspondence between Greyhound and Pete Aviotti, Herenton's special assistant, as well as e-mails traded between secretaries working for Herenton and attorney Charles Carpenter, who represented businessmen who bought the option from Herenton.
One document located in a City Hall filing cabinet says payment for the sale of the option should be made "to Herenton Investment Company," the mayor's private real estate firm.
Yet, when Jefferson responded to the grand jury subpoena in a May 20, 2008, letter to FBI Special Agent Michael Wiederspahn, he said the city had no records in its possession responsive to the subpoena.
"We have found no documents in which City officials were involved in their official capacity in the negotiation and disposal of the property currently occupied by Greyhound Lines, Inc. at 203 Union Avenue," Jefferson wrote.
Jefferson's letter says the city did obtain records maintained by the Memphis Area Transit Authority relating to the new station near the airport. The letter, obtained by The Commercial Appeal earlier this year, is attached to about 150 pages of MATA records that Jefferson sent to the grand jury.
None of the records located this fall are among those that Jefferson sent to the grand jury.
Cohen, the retired law professor, said a phrase in Jefferson's May 2008 letter to the FBI -- "in their official capacity" -- could be critical. In essence, Jefferson could have known about the records in city files yet declined to release them because he interpreted them to be private and not related to city business.
Memphis City Atty. Elbert Jefferson resigns
By Amos Maki, Marc Perrusquia
Posted October 16, 2009 at 4:11 p.m Beleaguered Memphis City Atty. Elbert Jefferson has resigned, his attorney said moments ago.
Elbert Jefferson
Jefferson's resignation letter and request for city to provide him legal representation
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In a letter delivered today to Mayor-elect A C Wharton and Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery, Jefferson said he tenders his resignation “immediately,” but that he hopes Wharton can find another place for him in city government.
“While I fully recognize that my employment with the City of Memphis is by virtue of an appointment and not pursuant to any civil service provision, I would request that you consider my continued service with the city which you feel may be appropriate,” said Jefferson, who is on sick leave until Oct. 19 and faces federal and state investigations related to his actions in office.
Last night, Wharton said he was going to appoint a team of lawyers to review the city attorney’s office, possibly as early as today.
State prosecutors filed an ouster suit against Jefferson earlier this month alleging Jefferson improperly authorized Robert Spence to be paid $55,734.47 in city funds for representing former Mayor Willie Herenton from November to May while he was under investigation by a federal grand jury.
Jefferson, 45, has said the payment to Spence was related to an ethics investigation Herenton asked Jefferson to conduct on him, but city officials have said they can find no record of such an investigation.
Immediately after being sworn in as interim mayor, Lowery fired Jefferson and had him escorted from City Hall. A judge ordered that Jefferson could stay on the job unless the City Council approved Lowery’s move. The council voted last month against terminating Jefferson.
“What’s been going on is a distraction to the people’s business,’’ said Ted Hansom, who represents Jefferson in the face of state and federal investigations into Jefferson’s conduct as city government’s chief legal officer.
Hansom said Jefferson doesn’t admit to any wrongdoing but is stepping aside, effective immediately, to make way for the new administration of Wharton, who was the winner in a special election last night.
“It does Elbert no good to hamstring a new administration,’’ Hansom said.
Hansom said he’s unclear what effect the resignation might have on the ouster suit brought against his client by Shelby County Dist. Atty. Bill Gibbons.
History of Jefferson's troubles
June — City Atty. Elbert Jefferson authorizes the city's legal department to pay $426,422 to former Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division president Joseph Lee III. Lee owed that amount for his 2007 defense against corruption charges, which the government later dropped. The City Council had voted against paying Lee's legal bills.
July 3 — Jefferson submits a letter of resignation to then-Mayor Willie Herenton. Herenton "respectfully declined" to accept it.
July 15 — A judge orders Lee and two of his attorneys not to use the city funds for Lee's legal bills until a hearing can be held.
July 31 — On his first day as mayor pro tem, Myron Lowery asks for Jefferson's resignation. Jefferson refuses and is escorted from City Hall by Lowery's security detail.
Aug. 1 — Jefferson gets a court injunction against Lowery on a Saturday, allowing him to remain on the job until a hearing can be held.
Aug. 2 — Jefferson returns to his office in City Hall on Sunday.
Aug. 5 — Judge rules that Lowery has to get City Council approval to fire the city attorney.
Sept. 4 — An article in The Commercial Appeal says the FBI questioned Jefferson about a $55,000 rush payment he authorized of Herenton's legal bills before the former mayor left office.
Sept. 5 — The Commercial Appeal obtains a grand jury subpoena issued for Jefferson, requesting that he provide records about the $55,000 payment.
Sept. 15 — The City Council votes to keep Jefferson as city attorney.
Sept. 28 — Jefferson requests sick leave until Oct. 19, four days after a special election to pick a new mayor of Memphis.
Sept. 29 — Prosecutors from Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons' office file a petition to oust Jefferson.
Oct. 4 — The Commercial Appeal reports that Jefferson failed to turn over all the records requested by a federal grand jury investigating Herenton.
Oct. 7 — A judge issues a consent order suspending Jefferson's authority until a hearing is held on the state's ouster suit accusing him of misconduct. The hearing was set for Monday.
Elbert Jefferson's comment, 2008 letter don't jibe
Spence hired for federal inquiry, document shows
By Marc Perrusquia
Posted October 18, 2009
As state and federal agents investigate former City Atty. Elbert Jefferson's use of public funds to pay private legal bills, a document has emerged raising more questions about his actions.
Jefferson, who resigned Friday, is under fire for paying $55,000 to a private lawyer hired last year to defend then-mayor Willie Herenton amid a federal criminal probe.
City Atty. Elbert Jefferson’s Nov. 2008 letter to Mayor Willie Herenton
Under questioning this fall, Jefferson said he understood the payment -- rushed to attorney Robert Spence in June as Herenton prepared to leave office -- involved general legal advice related to an internal ethics inquiry, not a criminal defense.
Yet a Nov. 26, 2008, letter written by Jefferson shows he understood that Herenton was hiring Spence "to assist you as it pertains to ongoing investigations by the United States Attorney,'' the office that prosecutes federal crimes in West Tennessee.
The letter, written to Herenton, includes an attached document, signed by Herenton, disclosing in capital letters that Spence would defend him in a "CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION."
Jefferson's letter, obtained by The Commercial Appeal, also indicates that the city could pay Spence's legal fees, but only at the conclusion of the case, and then only if Herenton was cleared of wrongdoing.
"If the employee prevails at the conclusion of the matter, the City will consider reimbursement of the applicable attorney fees and costs," Jefferson wrote, summarizing what he characterized as an "unwritten practice" to assist city employees who face personal legal action arising from their public duties.
Nonetheless, Jefferson's attorney, Ted Hansom, said Friday there was nothing in the City Charter or ordinances prohibiting the payment that Jefferson authorized.
"I can tell you there's not any black letter of law that says what he did was illegal," said Hansom.
Jefferson was questioned by the FBI last month about the payment, and his attorney disclosed Friday that Jefferson has been served with a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury later this month. Meantime, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Bill Gibbons filed a civil suit to oust Jefferson from office for alleged misconduct.
At the root of the controversy is a general premise in law that public money can't be used for a private benefit or, in this case, to finance a private criminal defense.
Herenton hired Spence last November days after key witnesses appeared before a federal grand jury that's been investigating the ex-mayor for possible corruption. The probe focuses on $91,000 that Herenton personally received while publicly advocating for the redevelopment of the Greyhound bus station Downtown.
Herenton denies wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes.
Hansom said that as the much-publicized federal probe ground into its second year this summer, Jefferson faced a dilemma:
Herenton might never be indicted. If he's not charged, he has prevailed. It would then be unfair to deny him city coverage of his legal fees -- something that couldn't be done after he left City Hall, Hansom said.
"The position the city attorney is put in is: When is this over?" Hansom said. "If he waited on the U.S. Attorney's office to do (something) he never would (get paid)."
The U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI have declined to comment on the probe.
Hansom said the city has had a practice since at least 1986 of paying legal fees of employees who face unfair personal legal action stemming from public duties.
CONT.
However, Hansom, who's represented city police officers and others caught in legal jams for decades, conceded he's never known that policy to be applied to a criminal case before.
Deputy City Atty. Veronica Coleman-Davis said that to the best of her knowledge, the unwritten policy was first applied to a criminal matter this year when Jefferson arranged to pay $426,422 to attorneys Spence and Halbert Dockins Jr. for their representation of former Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division president Joseph Lee III. Lee, a close Herenton ally, had been charged with bribery, but prosecutors dismissed the case against him.
Shelby County government has a similar policy -- this one is in writing -- yet Deputy County Atty. Danny Presley said he doesn't believe it's been used for a criminal matter.
A resolution passed by the County Commission in 1980 provides for county employees to be indemnified, or have reasonable personal legal costs paid, when they are sued for conduct arising from their public duties. The policy doesn't allow payment of costs when an employee's actions involve misconduct or gross negligence.
Presley said in his 15 years with the county he knows of no instance in which the county paid for legal fees of an employee who was indicted or charged with a crime.
The classic use of indemnification involves a law-enforcement officer who is sued personally for alleged brutality, Presley said.
--Marc Perrusquia: 529-2545
He said it
"I absolutely am not paying for the criminal defense of Willie Herenton."
-- Elbert Jefferson on Sept. 3, when a reporter first asked about the $55,000 city payment to Mayor Willie Herenton's private lawyer.
"The mayor previously announced to the world that I was investigating him. As I told the (FBI) agent, I am still investigating him."
-- Jefferson on Sept. 15, contending that private attorney Robert Spence's role was to help Herenton with any questions resulting from a city ethics inquiry Jefferson was conducting.
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