Six years after being bounced from the Tennessee House speakership, former Rep. Glen Casada was sentenced Tuesday to 36 months in prison for his role in a kickback scheme.
U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson meted out the punishment to Casada on 14 counts of fraud, bribery, theft, conspiracy and money laundering in connection with a shell company called Phoenix Solutions run by his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, who was sentenced to 30 months last week.
Casada also must pay a $30,000 fine and remain on probation for one year once he serves his time. Defense attorneys said they will appeal the case to a higher court.
Attorneys for Casada and Cothren requested a mistrial during their four-week trial that stretched from mid-April into May after prosecutors inadvertently played an unredacted recording of an FBI interview with Casada that incriminated Cothren. They also sought a new trial just before sentencing, but Richardson denied the request.
Casada and Cothren were convicted of setting up the secret company that tapped into the state’s postage and printing program that provides House members $3,000 a year for constituent mailers. Casada and former Rep. Robin Smith of Hixson, who pleaded guilty and testified against the pair, steered lawmakers’ business to Phoenix Solutions, which was secretly run by Cothren with the front name of “Matthew Phoenix.”