Post by pavel on Feb 12, 2016 8:10:15 GMT -6
Jason Beard didn’t have to testify, he told a federal court jury Thursday, but the former Augusta fire marshal insisted.
“I’d like for the jury to hear my side of the story, the truthful side,” he said.
The jury didn’t buy it. After deliberating close to three hours Thursday evening, the jury convicted Beard of six counts of extortion and one count of attempted extortion.
Judge J. Randal Hall, who presided over the four-day trial, allowed Beard to remain free on bond pending sentencing. A date has not been set.
On the first Saturday of each month from August 2014 through January 2015, Beard collected payments from the managers of two clubs – Level 9 Bar and Grill and Rendezvous at Three. He didn’t know then, but FBI agents recorded each meeting with one of the managers, Eurl Kittles, and they recorded each of their phone calls.
Read more: chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2016-02-11/former-augusta-fire-marshal-convicted-extortion?v=1455236532
“I’d like for the jury to hear my side of the story, the truthful side,” he said.
The jury didn’t buy it. After deliberating close to three hours Thursday evening, the jury convicted Beard of six counts of extortion and one count of attempted extortion.
Judge J. Randal Hall, who presided over the four-day trial, allowed Beard to remain free on bond pending sentencing. A date has not been set.
On the first Saturday of each month from August 2014 through January 2015, Beard collected payments from the managers of two clubs – Level 9 Bar and Grill and Rendezvous at Three. He didn’t know then, but FBI agents recorded each meeting with one of the managers, Eurl Kittles, and they recorded each of their phone calls.
Read more: chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2016-02-11/former-augusta-fire-marshal-convicted-extortion?v=1455236532