Prosecutors say the former supervisor 'dangled the carrot of county cash' to get what he wanted. Defense attorneys say there was no criminal intent.
The former supervisor's defense attorneys denied there was criminal intent behind any of the individual actions that prosecutors allege, when viewed together, make up the elements of a bribery conspiracy.
In her opening remarks she ridiculed some of the prosecution's case as relying on the fuzzy interpretations of emoji symbols Ridley-Thomas included in some of his electronic messages, and said since the underlying actions that Ridley-Thomas took should be considered 'good,' jurors should ask themselves, why is there a trial?
That former dean, Marilyn Louise Flynn, pleaded guilty last year to a federal bribery charge and admitted she helped funnel $100,000 from Ridley-Thomas to a non-profit operated by Ridley-Thomas' son in order to allegedly conceal the true source of the funds. The investigation followed complaints from two staffers in 2016 and 2017 that, if revealed publicly,"would tarnish the family name," Rybarczyk said.
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