Bryant CochranROME, Ga. — Bryant Cochran, the former Murray County magistrate, is a powerful sexual predator willing to break the law to hurt victims who speak out against him. Either that, or he fell prey to a disgruntled woman who tried to end his career when he didn’t help her as much as she wanted.
Lawyers provided alternate narratives to the jury this morning during opening arguments in U.S. District Court. Cochran faces charges of conspiring against someone’s rights, depriving someone of civil rights, conspiring to distribute a controlled substance and intimidating a witness. If convicted, he could go to prison for 20 years.
The controversy began in April 2012, when a woman named Angela Garmley visited Cochran’s office. She asked the magistrate to hold a hearing, determining whether three people who beat Garmley should get arrested.
Cochran held the hearing and issued a warrant for their arrest.
But before he did that, the prosecution told the jury, Cochran asked Garmley to be his mistress. He wanted her to come back to his office wearing a dress with no underwear. They flirted in text messages, and Garmley agreed to send one lewd picture to the magistrate.