Greenwood magistrate found not guilty
Former Greenwood County Magistrate Lisa Cain was found not guilty of misconduct in office this week. Cain was accused of knowing that an employee was stealing money and not reporting the theft.
The employee, who stole $23,000 from the magistrate's office and has been charged with embezzlement, has not been to trial yet and she testified for the government at Cain's trial. What are the odds that the thief, who works in the court system and knows how the system works, saw the opportunity to cut a deal and told the prosecutor whatever they wanted to hear?
It was more important to the prosecutor in this case to try and get a conviction against the "big fish" Lisa Cain than it was to prosecute the person who actually stole the money. Obviously, the jury disagreed.
Comments
The gov't had no case. Cole testified that she told Cain the first time she stole money and Cain gave her advice and said she had done it before. Yet the evidence showed that Cain reported the first $1000 theft. Sifting through the transactions, the prosecution could find no previous incidents of theft or voiding transactions done by Cain. The two incidents they tried to pin on Cain were refuted by evidence that backed up Cain's story. Lisa Cain was prosecuted by a system with no evidence other than the word of the known thief.
Posted by: Attendee | August 6, 2008 10:09 PM
This is why we should limit the admissibility of uncorroborated testimony by persons who are testifying in exchange for deals. Not that I know if Cole had a deal on the table or not, but it is easy to infer.
Posted by: bfrederick | August 7, 2008 12:11 AM