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Former Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada on Tuesday was sentenced to three years in federal prison, fined $30,000 and given one year of supervised release for his participation in the Phoenix Solutions kickback scheme. He maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.
Judge Eli Richardson commented that the U.S. Court of Appeals would likely take a “close look” at whether Casada’s conduct violated federal statutes, and that he might have a good case. However, Richardson also said there was “no question at all” that Casada’s actions were “pretty crummy,” a description he used three or four times.
The nine-hour sentencing on Tuesday postponed former House Speaker Glen Casada’s related sentencing in Phoenix Solutions scandal
Last week, Richardson sentenced Casada’s former chief of staff Cade Cothren to 30 months in prison, a $25,000 fine and a year of probation for his role in Phoenix Solutions. Throughout Casada's six-hour hearing, Richardson compared and contrasted the two men’s cases.
In 2002, Casada was elected by a swath of Franklin, Thompson’s Station and Nolensville to the Tennessee House of Representatives. Over the course of two decades, he carved out a reputation as a go-getter for the Republican Party, someone who won races and was an effective fundraiser.
Casada ascended to the speakership in January 2019, but as soon as he reached the peak, things fell apart. An investigation revealed racist and sexist texts that Cothren sent in a group thread with Casada, who later referred to the conversations as “locker room talk.”
His intense leadership style and bullying tactics, especially when trying to pass Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher bill, grated on colleagues. His Republican peers held a vote of no confidence in him. Cothren resigned in May 2019; Casada resigned as speaker in August, but remained a representative.
Soon after, Cothren established a consulting business called Phoenix Solutions to stay in the game. He posed as “Matthew Phoenix” on a W9 so clients wouldn’t know his identity. Casada and former Rep. Robin Smith (R-Hixson) funneled work Cothren’s way through other representatives, using the state’s postage and printing funds for constituent mailers. All three received a cut.
When the FBI caught wind, it raided offices and personal homes, and Smith later turned witness against Cothren and Casada.
'Walter White Ran a Legitimate Car Wash'
Near the end of Cothren’s sentencing hearing last week, with members of Casada’s legal team in the gallery, Judge Richardson seemed to fire a warning shot. In an almost offhand way, he remarked that things could be worse for Casada — who at the time of the scheme was still a state representative, while Cothren was a private citizen.
Richardson, who is partial to thinking out loud, operates like a college professor using the Socratic method, with the opposing attorneys playing the role of students he’s trying to prompt toward major realizations. At one point, he congratulated himself for having “fostered a vigorous discussion.”
Richardson relied on precedents established at Cothren’s sentencing in terms of the amount of money Phoenix Solutions generated and whether more than one bribe occurred. Defense attorney Jonathan Farmer argued that the money laundering was not “sophisticated” because Casada’s consulting company, which funneled work to Cothren, had cashed checks unrelated to Phoenix Solutions. As such, he argued, Casada’s business — Rightway Consulting — was not a shell company.
Prosecuting attorney John Taddei countered, “In Breaking Bad, Walter White ran a legitimate car wash,” but was still laundering money. Richardson maintained his ruling from the Cothren sentencing, concluding that the laundering was sophisticated.
Farmer then argued that Casada played a much smaller role in the scheme than Cothren or Smith. He pointed to texts from Smith to Cothren in which she characterized the ex-speaker as “radioactive” to Phoenix Solutions and advocated for keeping Casada in the dark. Farmer also cited Cothren’s FBI interviews, in which he described Casada’s role in the group as limited.
Farmer said the hearing was shaping up to give the person with the least involvement the highest sentencing range. “That’s not justice,” he declared.
The former state House speaker and his aide have been charged with bribery, fraud and money laundering
Taddei argued that Casada needed to be “substantially” less culpable than his co-conspirators to qualify for a minor role reduction. Richardson wondered aloud about the subjective meaning of “substantial,” asking if the Tennessee Volunteers, ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press college football poll, were ranked “substantially” higher than Vanderbilt at No. 18. Ultimately, he ruled in favor of the prosecution, but mentioned that Farmer’s arguments would play a role at closing.
The defense then called three witnesses: Casada’s wife, Michelle; his daughter, Sarah Hoos; and Steve Robinson, a leader in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Sunday school teacher at Brentwood Baptist, Casada’s church. They each spoke to Casada’s faith and community involvement. Through tears, Michelle Casada and Hoos said the ex-speaker had been humbled and had changed significantly in recent years.
“I think he got lost a little bit on the way,” Hoos said.
“Pain is God’s megaphone,” Robinson said, adding that he’d “stake my life” on the fact that Casada wouldn’t hurt the community if he received a non-custodial sentence.
General Deterrence
During closing arguments, the prosecution asked for a sentence of 60 months in prison and a $50,000 fine. Taddei argued that Casada had shown a lack of contrition, continued to blame others, and lied to the FBI until he was confronted with hard evidence. The prosecutor said Casada’s conduct was more brazen than that of Smith or Cothren.
“Mr. Cothren and Ms. Smith did some actual work,” Taddei said, referring to constituent mailers. “Mr. Casada just took bribes, and Rightway Consulting laundered the money.”
He concluded by making a case for general deterrence. Casada’s sentence, Taddei argued, should show public officials that “if you engage in public corruption, you will be sent to prison for a long time.”
Defense attorney Ed Yarbrough responded that general deterrence is too broad a concept, a lazy card for a prosecuting attorney to play regardless of circumstances. “You could have a choir boy as a defendant,” he said in a hoarse voice, with an accent dipped in molasses, “But you could talk about general deterrence and put him in lockup for years.”
Yarbrough acknowledged that the defense was “swimming upstream” after Cothren’s sentencing and mentioned that the purpose of the trial wasn’t to “give [the prosecuting attorneys] any trophies,” adding that Casada hadn’t apologized or shown contrition because he was in the middle of a judicial process. He concluded by asking for probation, home confinement, or another “creative” sentence.
“It’s not the length of the sentence that deters crime,” he said. “It’s the certainty of punishment.”
During his sentencing monologue, Richardson reiterated that this case wasn’t the worst honest services wire fraud or money laundering he’d ever seen — this wasn't drug trafficking, and there were no losses to the state — but that the crimes were “significant" because Casada was an elected public official. He mentioned that Casada, being 66 years old and having left politics, was at a low risk of reoffending.
Jury deliberated four days before convicting duo of honest services wire fraud; both defendants plan to appeal
Richardson also repeatedly brought up a recent voicemail from Casada, in which he disavowed responsibility and wrongdoing. Richardson mentioned that this voicemail contradicted some of the character witnesses’ testimony, and perhaps Casada was “not so chastened after all.”
Ultimately, Richardson sided with the prosecution in terms of general deterrence, saying it wasn’t about “making an example” of Casada, but rather “sending a message.” He said general deterrence is especially important in corruption cases.
Richardson also pointed out that Casada lied to the FBI, and said that while the ex-speaker’s 2019 scandal didn’t necessarily involve anything illegal, it was “not a good look.”
After the hearing, Yarbrough and Farmer spoke to assembled media, mainly reiterating that they plan to appeal and maintain Casada’s innocence. The prosecution and Casada himself declined to comment to the Banner in the hallway.
In the late afternoon, Glen and Michelle Casada walked out the doors of the courthouse and past a throng of media to the Church Street curb, where a white Cadillac Escalade awaited them. Barring a court’s intervention, he must report to prison by Nov. 21.
This article first appeared on Nashville Banner and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
