JURY HAS The Case

Sandra Stokes Walden

Viewed: 3841

Posted by: Sandra Walden
Date: May 14 2015 12:51 PM

UPDATE 11:00

Judge Mendheim is addressing the jury about what will happen next.

Closing arguments are not evidence, the evidence is from the witnesses on this case.

State will go first and they will address you.

The Mr. Sheffield will for the defendant.

Any burden of proof on this case is on the State.

They will go first, Defendant second, then state.

I did put the attorney’s on time limits 40 minutes each.  State gets 1 40 minutes. My goal is altogether to get it done before lunch, that we get these done and then break for lunch. 

Judge Mendheim is reading the charges. 

 

Mr. Smyczk for state

One thing he is not going to check you on.  You have to use your common sense.  It is a 2 count indictment. 

First is scheme to get his son the security business.

Second is his scheme to get the port-a-potty business.

No dispute:  Mr. Snellgrove is a public official

No dispute:  His son’s business had the gain.

Did he intentionally use his position for personal gain?  You heard from the reading of the transcript. 

Mr. Gilley said the Mr. Snellgrove demanded the contract.  What backed up the claim of Mr. Gilley.  34 phone calls. Before March 09 we did not record incoming phone calls.  Why is Mr. Gilley calling Mr. Snellgrove.  Mr. Snellgrove said he doesn’t recall what he talked with Mr. Gilley about.  Use your common sense folks..he couldn’t remember what they talked about.

He voted on things concerning CC.  He did not disclose on the ethics forms.  He told Mr. Gilley that you don’t give my son those contracts or there will be problems.

Mr. Snellgrove did not think Mr. Gilley was such a bad guy when he was talking to him on the phone.  He did not think he was a liar then.

Did not make sense to hire Regional Services, they had no experience, they had no uniforms, the company did not even exist until day they got the call to go to work there.  They had people sleeping on the job, drinking, not do their job.  It made no sense to hire Regional Services.

They paid them until MR. Gilley had no money, they had to pay them to the end because of threats of Mr. Snellgrove.

No written contract, problems with the security, they keep them working..

Ronnie insisted on using this security company over the objections of the management.  Mark Sheldon, Taylor..

Mark Snellgrove said he did not talk to Ronnie Gilley, I did not talk to him once.  Bobby Snellgrove said that he did not talk to Ronnie Gilley.  Mark’s preprepared statement said that he went to Mark Sheldon and Chuck Taylor.  Mark Sheldon and Chuck Taylor said they did not talk to Mark.

If Mark Snellgrove did not talk to Ronnie Gilley, he only talked to Mark Sheldon and Chuck Taylor and Taylor said he did not talk to Mark Snellgrove.

The July 26 vote cut Country Crossings off, Mr. Snellgrove cast the only nay vote, curious time isn’t it.   The state does not have to prove motive to you.  None the less the state has shown you the motive.  The motive is to get Mark Snellgrove off the dole.  To get Mark Snellgrove in another business.

He was laid off in 2005, his father wants to get him off the dole..get him off the payroll.  They made pretty good in those two businesses. 

He is going over the payments out of security business.  Mark Snellgrove benefited over 33,000 in these business ventures his Daddy helped him with.

Mark Snellgrove worked for the Dothan Prop Shop and ever week or two he got a regular pay check.  In Dec 2009 Mark’s paychecks stopped from Dothan Prop Shop.

Bobby Snellgrove voted in favor of resolutions the benefited the company his son worked for.  Mr. Snellgrove did not abstain. 

Feb 26 he voted along with everyone else to deny the demand.  Then in July he was the only man that voted no.

We talked about the personal gain his son got  with Regional Security.

Count 2 everything is the same except it is with Regional Portables.

Day before New Year’s Eve Mr. Snellgrove called Gilley and demanded that his son’s port-a-potty be used by Country Crossings.  Zero sense to use Mark Snellgrove’s newly formed port-a-potty business.  They originally had Ashton Parrish contracted to do port-a-potties.   He did provide VIP trailers.  Parrish had to remove his toilets.

Business Returns showed Primary partner, Bobby Snellgrove…

Regional Portables received over $6,000.  Mark Snellgrove received over $3,000 from Regional Portables.

Let’s talk about some misstatements here>

Mark Snellgrove said he met with Chuck Taylor and Mark Sheldon..

Chuck Taylor and Mark Sheldon say they did not meet with Mark Snellgrove.

Snellgrove said Cox and Hatcher asked him to do other sites…

Grand jury he said he had no idea that he was needed for other things.

Do you know Ronnie Gilley?  I know of him….Is that how you talk about someone you talk to so many times on the telephone.

Did you have a business interest or financial interest in Country Crossings or Center Stage….Well we know that is not true, he had companies that did business with them.

Let’s look at his denials

Never had conversations with Gilley about Regional Portables

Never had conversations with Gilley about Regional Services

If Mark Sheldon and Chuck Taylor said they never had any conversation with Mark Snellgrove….then who talked to who to get the contracts..

Use your common sense.  

Voters are supposed to get Commissioners that look after the county

 

Sheffield

The voters of Houston County Unanimously wanted bingo.

I got up 12:30 to get up to go to the office to prepare for this case.

I told you from the beginning that we did not have to do anything.  We don’t have to prove the case

Pete and Bill Lisenby I don’t have a issue with them.  I have an issue with his boss.  Lots of mistakes…We all make mistakes but the sloppiness of this investigation..

Basically what they did they took this man’s word for it

I will also think Mr. Pete because I thought a lot about things with my son last night at his birthday.

The only thing has happened I had to start wearing wal-mart reading glasses.

Mark wrote honest and God fearing man.  I am glad Mr. Bobby got to hear that.

We have the notes…Scotty Cox and …. There was his connection

Bama Jam was his password

You heard Mr. Bobby’s transcript.  I would not put Mr. Bobby up there.  If he was lying he would not have gone to the grand jury and testified.

We got 32 phone calls.  That is what you hire your commissioner for, to get jobs,  5,000 jobs and we needed them

I would think your opinion of Mr. Gilley would be a little less now.  I think he is very vindictive.  When Billy Lisenby last Gilley the last question and Gilley said yep he was the only no vote and Gilley threw that paper down.

Feb 25, 08, no conversation before that day, the motion passed.   No phones calls.

We did see that Mark Culver had over 200 calls with Gilley.

He wants you to believe the wife to his two kids…..That is  his first wife.

You have got Rickey Stokes, if Gilley had left his car unlocked, Rickey Stokes would be in the back seat taking pictures.  You know you are not going to get by with anything in Dothan.  You are not going to leave your wife and George Jones sitting on the curb, especially in Feb.

He talked about owning some property.  He did not own any property in Feb 08.  He had a problem with first land with arrowheads.

One of the biggest events of his life, his printing press, he did not know who was with him. 

George Jones, I would not leave him sitting on the curve.  He had a LandRover in Houston county that is a biggy.  If I see A LandRover I am going to turn around and look.

He said we had a longtime security company that we use.  What did DSI say?  They never had a contract with DSI at that time.

The Sheriff’s substation, He never had any intention of using the Houston Co Sheriff’s dept.

The case gets continuance.   About a week before we get that continuance Luther Strange sent a letter for a sentence reductions….Gilley said he did not know about that…I finally got him to admit that he knew about that. 

If we had gone to trial in January we would have never known about that letter,

Objecting sustained.

A man with a low threshold for jail time. 

I learned something in Paris Island and Marine training, everybody had a breaking point.  Everybody as a Marine has a breaking point, Mr. Gilley has a paperclip level of jail pain.

He gets locked back up in jail, not even two months he had another deal worked out.  He gets a offer of 80 months, he start singing, 7 months he starts asking for probation. 

What does he do…2 ½ years in prison he gets in a drug program…I think after 2 ½ years the drugs would be out of his system…But he found a way to get his sentence reduced.

July 26, Bobby votes no.  HEDA has to take them to court.  Ended up getting only a little bit over half of his money back.  Bobby saved the county a lot of money.

July 29 you heard the evidence that Mark Snellgrove was let go.   That bill was not paid.  Why would that bill not be paid.  Everybody wanted to work for Country Crossings.

Mr. Bobby filled out that form correctly.  Last night we went out to eat.  Don’t you think my other two children are going to watch what my other son is getting.

He put Regional Portables on his final form. 

Did Mr. Bobby Snellgrove do a overt Act?  NO

Did he make a phone call on Regional Portables? No

Did he do it intentionally? No

What did Ashton Parrish say on the stand?  I come driving up and I see someone unloading toilets.  I called and they said I needed to take my portables back.  Did you have any port-a-potties on the ground….He said he pulled up and he turned around, I never unloaded any.  They said they were doing business with someone else.

During construction they are using Jim Loftin, Not Ashton.  Mark is working security he saw the port-a-potties.   Scotty Cox, a high school friend, worked there and got Mark the business.

He did not just tell you he went there, he gave you directions to get there.  I felt sorry for him.  He was told to bring all of those documents here, his 72 year old father was sitting there having to testify.   Mark had no idea what was going on in Grand Jury.

Wouldn’t I ask for all of my equipment to be paid for if I was crooked?  There would not be any paperwork with my name on it if I was crooked….There was paperwork with their names on it.

 

Look at the phone records they don’t add up.  January 15, 17..the Commodores were coming …not one phone call between them…

 

With all that was going about Bingo in the state don’t you think I would be on the  phone trying to find out where we stood.

In Feb you had all of the legal wrangling going on about bingo. 

 

All this continually calling about invoics….I wasn’t paying his son, he was burning the phone up?  There wasn’t any phone calls.  

 

If you are doing something underhanded you would not vote against something effecting Gilley. 

 

The only thing was to get Mark off the dole?  Do you think at 72 year old man who had quadruple bypass would be crawling around in the heat?

 

Mark said Daddy was lonely and he came out there to be around people.  Sometime retirement is hard.

 

Well if you had to put a title on your daddy would it be president?  I guess it would, he never does any work.

 

When you have a son that cuts grass do you know who he cuts?  When did you start cutting their grass….dad that’s been a year and a half…How did you get that?

 

Gilley telling Truth

Snellgrove did something intentional

You should not believe anything Gilley said.

He was rattling away but when I got up to question him he had to have his attorney set up beside him.

Gilley did not know nothing after that. He was not going to risk getting a purgery charge.

Montgomery could have come down here gone over to Mark’s office and sit down and he would have answered their questions.  He would have shown them the forms.  They could have gone to the shop and got all of these records.

 

But they took Gilley’s words.  They could have gone to Bobby Snellgrove’s house and talked with him.  He has been

 

Feb 25 08 do you believe Gilley had a contract with DSI..when DSI’s attorney said they did not..

 

Gilley said Ashton had to come back and get his toilets….you heard Ashton say that he never unloaded them

 

Captain Gonzalez told y’all that they were doing security…

 

First of all you have to believe everything Gilley told you..

If you don’t believe Gilley then we are done, come back with a not guilty verdict.

 

Second that Mr. Bobby did it intentionally. 

He would not have testified at the grandjury

 

I have a problem with the Attorney General…They should have known it was a red flag when they did not make any money..you had to pay your child’s orthodontist out of the company…

 

Montgomery doesn’t think we have a lick of sense down here.  That girl with Verizon from  NJ came down here on the state’s good money to tell us how to read a Verizon Bill.

 

Do the right thing, let Mr. Snellgrove go home to his family.  I have proven Mr. Gilley is a liar.  I have proven it with my witnesses.. Please come back with a not guilty verdict.

 

Lisenby:

 

We have heard a lot about what MR. Sheffield would do or not do..

But this trial is about what Mr. Snellgrove did.

 

If you look at our exhibit it shows what Mark Snellgrove made it showed that he was making more money than he had ever made before with Dothan  Prop Shop.

 

He makes a big deal about this lady coming down from NY..We had to explain to you why the records did not show any phone calls from Mr. Snellgrove.  We had to prove to you why they did not show.

 

Sloppy investigation if you can’t blame the police who else can you blame.   Don’t blame my client

 

He talks about those Montgomery people coming down here and thinks we are stupid.  By god I think you are smart…we want people are smart…..to think about things.

 

He talks about 72 years old, quadruple bypass…he is wanting you to have sympathy.  

If he did it , it is a crime.

 

You heard the ethics commission..it is a violation.

 

We showed you it was Mark and Bobby Snellgrove that filed paperwork showing he was the president of the company…before the grand jury.

 

When you investigate things you gather information you find out what is going on.

 

He said you can’t believe Ronnie Gilley.  You can observe someone and tell if they are telling the truth, you can back it up with documentation, phone records, business records..

 

Mr. Sheffield talks about Feb 25, 2008…he said Gilley says he owns property out there…Mr. Gilley never said he owned property out there…it is not that he owned the property out there but he did  have contruction equipment out there to be ready.

 

Mr. Sheffield said you might not know who your 17 yr old son is cutting the grass for.  That is not the evidence in this case.  This is a grown man.  You work in the building with your day.  You do business with your dad.

 

In this case Bobby Snellgrove voted over and over for things that concerned CC while his son had a security guard out there.

 

A public official has a responsibility to know what is going on…

 

In 2010 he put Regional Portables, in 2009 he did not.  He did not let anyone know about that at that point in time.  If we hide it people won’t find out about it, if I can hide it I can keep doing it..

 

He did not mention Regional Security until deep into the grand jury testimony.  But he kept using the word we.  Mr. Hart finally asked who do you mean by we.. me and my family.

 

They have a contract out there, I guess it is a contract…they got paid over $200,000.

 

This is the check from August 6, 2010 for Guard services from July 2 to July 15..And Gilley told Snellgrove that he could not pay him anymore, he did not have any money.  And Snellgrove votes against him on July 26 to not get his money back.

 

Telephone calls, Snellgrove says he doesn’t remember, he doesn’t know what we talked about.  If he was trying to get business why didn’t he just say he was trying to get business.

 

The letter from the AG…all it says is truthful testimony….truthful testimony.. that is all we asked…

 

Mr. Sheffield says he has never been prosecuted for purgery.  What do you think this trial is about. 

 

Ashton said he never said he unloaded his port-a-potties.   Ashton said he pulled up with his trailer, he never unloaded them..

 

Reasonable doubt…by saying guilty on both counts you are saying to Bobby Snellgrove and everyone else you are not going to do this.

 

 

 

JUDGE MENDHEIM:

Each and every one of the following elements must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

1. Defendant a public official

2. Defendant used his position to obtain personal gain.  Personal gain occurs when the public official or his family member does one or more of the following

a. receives, b. obtains, c exerts control over, d otherwise converts

to personal use the object constituting such personal gain.  In this case

              money.

3. He does so for  himself, a family member or a business with which he is associated

4.  The defendant acted intentionally. 

 

Criminal Intent: a person’s purpose is to cause that result or engage in that conduct.  The defendant intended to engage in conduct prohibited by law.

 

Two charges but the laws are identical and applies to both.  Each charge needs to stand alone with you and you need to review the evidence for each one.

 

Verdict must be  unanimous.

 

Break for lunch.  Jury will return to the jury room after lunch. 

 

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