WMC-TV: News, Weather, Traffic, Radar, and Sports for Memphis, TN; WMCTV.com | Jury selection in Ford corruption trial postponed

Jury selection in Ford corruption trial postponed

Jury selection in the federal corruption trial of former Tennessee state Sen. John Ford was delayed in Nashville Monday after Ford's defense attorney was hospitalized over the weekend.

Attorneys in court said Assistant Federal Public Defender Isaiah Gant was admitted into a Nashville hospital Sunday suffering from an inflamed finger. Gant underwent surgery Sunday after his finger did not respond to antibiotics.

U.S. District Court Judge Todd Campbell delayed the start of jury selection - scheduled to begin today - until at least Tuesday. Prominent Nashville attorney David Raybin said such a delay was not uncommon.

"I've had many cases where prosecutors walk in at the last minute and they want a delay," he said. "So it works both ways."

Raybin added that it would be better to have such a delay before jury selection, rather than after the trial had started.

"I think a delay in the middle of the trial is certainly more of a problem than a delay in the beginning," he said. "I think that is why the judge delayed the beginning of the trial, so that once it begins it can go off."

Jury selection was originally to have begun June 24, but Gant accused prosecutors of not turning over documents relating to grand jury testimony until June 20.

Monday, attorneys close to the trial worried the continued delays might affect the jury pool, as jurors were pre-selected based on their availablility for the expected one month duration of the trial.

Ford is charged with wire fraud and concealing material facts in connection with some $800,000 he earned consulting for TennCare contractors.

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