Friday, January 29, 2010
Lawson/Nighbert Acquitted
KENTUCKY...
The bid-rigging trial of road contractor Leonard Lawson and former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert came to a stunning end Friday in Lexington Federal District Court. The verdict was rendered about 3:20 P.M. The two were found "not guilty" on all counts. The jury got the case at 2:00 P.M. Thursday and took only 25-hours to arrive at their verdict. The prosecution's case rested mainly on the testimony of Jim Rummage, former Transportation Cabinet Engineer, the supposed middle-man in funneling bid information to Lawson prior to the awarding of road contracts in Kentucky. Neither Lawson nor Nighbert took the stand to testify, relying on vigorous cross examination by defense attorneys led by Larry Mackey. The two defendants wept openly in court on hearing the verdict.
The bid-rigging trial of road contractor Leonard Lawson and former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert came to a stunning end Friday in Lexington Federal District Court. The verdict was rendered about 3:20 P.M. The two were found "not guilty" on all counts. The jury got the case at 2:00 P.M. Thursday and took only 25-hours to arrive at their verdict. The prosecution's case rested mainly on the testimony of Jim Rummage, former Transportation Cabinet Engineer, the supposed middle-man in funneling bid information to Lawson prior to the awarding of road contracts in Kentucky. Neither Lawson nor Nighbert took the stand to testify, relying on vigorous cross examination by defense attorneys led by Larry Mackey. The two defendants wept openly in court on hearing the verdict.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 4:52 PM 
