Edmund Ford Sr.

A federal court jury in the “Operation Mainstreet Sweeper” trial of former City Councilman Edmund Ford Sr. found him not guilty on all six counts of bribery Wednesday afternoon.

The jury deliberated for seven hours before delivering the verdict. Some jurors said afterwards a much ballyhooed videotape of Ford accepting $100 bills did not convince them that it showed a bribe taking place.

Ford was accused of accepting about $9,000 from FBI informant Joe Cooper in exchange for his influence on the Memphis City Council. He took the stand in his own defense, declaring his innocence after he was indicted more than a year ago.

Ford’s council mate, Rickey Peete, was sentenced to 51 months in prison for bribery after he, too, was snared in “Operation Mainstreet Sweeper.” Both Ford and Peete were indicted for selling their vote on a zoning issue in 2006.

Michael Scholl, Ford’s attorney, said his client was innocent and accepted the money from Cooper as a loan and did not use his influence as a council member. He shredded Cooper’s credibility and called him a “low-life criminal.”

The verdict was read around 4 p.m. in U.S. Dist. Court Judge Samuel Mays Jr.’s courtroom.

“It doesn’t surprise me a bit. Whenever you have cases like this that hinge on the credibility of the witnesses – and this is one where the star witness for the government was Joe Cooper – you heard from the jury about how they felt about the government’s star witness. They didn’t see him as credible. Portions of the video tapes played into that as well. . . .

“This case really hinged on two things: one the video, and two, Joe Cooper. When you watched the video in totality, you understood that maybe the money was received for other things rather than for payoffs and votes and other things of that nature. You always have to look at the strength and the credibility of your witnesses. Joe had a prior history of deceit. He had an indictment hanging over his head and he had all the reasons to entice Edmund Ford.”

— Defense Attorney Art Horne

“We went into this very aggressively and instead of sitting back and trying to defend the situation we went out and told the jury that we would prove that he (Ford) was innocent. And obviously we did it because the jury ruled in our favor. . . .

“The finest point in this trial is that Mr. Ford didn’t take a bribe. He told the truth about what happened and that’s why we won this trial. I believe that the witnesses that we put on were all truthful, and that’s always going to prevail in court. . . .

    “Luckily in this situation you run into problems, especially in bribery cases, where unfortunately it’s an undercover informant or somebody’s word against your client’s word.”

—Michael Scholl, Ford’s defense attorney

“Only thing I can say is that I want to thank my Lord. And He was in the courtroom. He was there with me. My God is an awesome God and if y’all don’t know Him you better get to know Him. He’s an awesome God. He showed up and He showed out. This wonderful attorney, my family and my friends has been out here and supported me. They know what Edmund H. Ford is all about. . . .

“I hold no grudges on anyone. And Mr. Cooper, he just have to deal with his own situation. He has to go and talk to my Lord and Savior. . . .

 “I’ll be a little more careful who I take in as my friend. But the Lord will protect me. I would like to thank the jury. From day one, I thought it was a very fair jury. I knew the Lord would be there with them. He made them see the right thing. Just looking at them, I knew they were fine.”

— Edmund H. Ford Sr.

    “It’s been rough… God is good.”

— Myrtle Ford, Edmund Ford’s wife