Bishop State Trial Delayed

Alabama Mobile The trial of three former Bishop State Community College employees accused of scamming the school out of thousands of dollars has been delayed.

by Jessica Taloney

Published: Tue, September 29, 2009 - 3:08 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, September 29, 2009 - 4:24 pm CST

MOBILE, Alabama - The trial of three former Bishop State Community College employees accused of scamming the school out of thousands of dollars has been delayed.

Marlene French, Emma Perkins and Charlotte Powe were indicted in 2007 for theft of property by deception. Their trial, which would have been the first in the high-profile financial aid scandal that nearly brought down the college, was scheduled for November 2, but the district attorney's office says there is a conflict on their calendar. The same team of attorneys prosecuting the Bishop State case is also prosecuting former Judge Herman Thomas, who is scheduled to go to trial next week.

"The state estimates that the Herman Thomas trial will take between three to four weeks to complete," wrote Assistant District Attorney Martha Tierney in a motion to continue the Bishop State trial.

Thomas, who left the Circuit Court bench in October 2007, faces 103 charges including sex abuse, sodomy, kidnapping and extortion. Thomas, while serving as a judge, is accused of forcing inmates to perform sexual favors in exchange for leniency in the courtroom.

"We have a team within our office of several lawyers who try white collar cases, political corruption and high profile cases," says Chief Assistant DA Nicki Patterson. "It's just not physically possible for us to be in two places at the same time."

A new trial date has not been scheduled in the Bishop State case. Attorneys on both sides expect it to be set for early next year.

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Rachel Says:

Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 1:58 pm

Tell them your a close friend of ole Hermey and Davey Thomas LOL

ickthus Says:

Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 8:24 pm

cool, you and rmseek dress up and get back to us. this should be good.

BamaBob Says:

Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 8:12 pm

Maybe we need to get someone to dress up like a preppy pimp and a ho then do a little investigative reporting.

ickthus Says:

Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 7:59 pm

Who knows bob, and why are they even doing this case? They will only let them keep their pay and office and give them a new job title. They will let them pay the money back with no interest. They are such nice people. What a great place to steel, I mean work for.

BamaBob Says:

Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 6:40 pm

To me it seems like a lot of familiar names are interwoven into several of these cases.

What is the latest with the FBI woman that suddenly retired? Why has that gone so quiet?