State Sen. Johnny Ray Turner sentenced to home detention

FRANKFORT -- State Sen. Johnny Ray Turner was sentenced this afternoon to three months home detention and one year of probation for "non-willful" vote buying, closing out a lengthy federal vote-fraud investigation in Eastern Kentucky.

The Democrat from Drift, who is the Senate's minority caucus chair, said he will not appeal the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell.

The government dropped a felony vote-fraud indictment against Turner in December in exchange for his guilty plea to a misdemeanor violation of non-willfully making campaign expenditures for the purpose of influencing voters.

"In this court's perspective, it has been very lenient in granting no jail time," Caldwell told Turner in her Frankfort courtroom. "You had a real brush with disaster here ... and it's been narrowly averted."

She referred to Turner as a "willing victim."

Turner, a part-time school administrator, can continue working and carry out any official duties he may have during his home incarceration, Caldwell said.

The case stems from Turner's 2000 election, during which he said he turned over the financial details of his campaign to Loren Glenn Turner, a cousin who was both his campaign treasurer and campaign manager.

Glenn Turner was sentenced to six months of prison in February for lying to a federal grand jury about the source of $1,000 donations his family members and friends contributed to a 2002 Pike County judicial race.

Johnny Turner said he was aware that his campaign had cut checks for campaign workers and vote haulers in the final days of his campaign, but said he did not deliver any of the checks.

In retrospect, Johnny Turner said he realized that some of those checks might have been used for illegal and improper purposes.

"We do not believe that Mr. Turner was a ring-leader," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Taylor told the judge. "He probably turned a blind eye to what some other people were doing under his authority."

Taylor said he thought Turner's sentence was fair. Turner had asked for one year of probation, but the court's probation office had recommended 6 months home detention.

Turner was also fined $1,000.

A political novice in 2000, Turner upset state Sen. Benny Ray Bailey, D-Hindman, and then won re-election by 25 votes against Bailey's nephew in 2004. Turner said today that he plans to seek re-election next year.

Turner, his cousin, and the late Ross Harris, a Pikeville political fund-raiser, were originally indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2005 for allegedly "paying persons to vote."

The charges came after Harris and Glenn Turner were convicted in 2004 of mail fraud in a separate Pike County case tried in London. Those convictions were later overturned by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the mail-fraud statute could not be used to prosecute vote-fraud cases.

Harris' charges were dismissed when he died of cancer.

In a memorandum arguing that Johnny Turner be given probation, his attorney noted that Turner co-sponsored campaign finance reform legislation earlier this year. Senate Bill 159, which did not become law, would have banned vote hauling, among other things.

The memorandum included letters of support for Turner from several officials and friends, including WKYT-TV general manager Wayne Martin and Senate Minority Leader Ed Worley. Also included was a letter thanking Turner for his work on campaign finance reform from Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson.

- John Stamper

Comments

disappointingly lenient. i was hoping to see this guy behind bars.

[valerie smith]

Johnny Ray Turner is a fine upstanding citizen. He was a victim in all of this and im glad he did not go to jail. There is no way he deserved to be behind bars.

HAHA. you're kidding, right?

"victim" is the last word i would use to describe that piece of trash turner. he is an embarrassment to the democratic party.

I can see how easily a political novice like Turner could get sucked into the illegal vortex involving campaign financing when he is being run as a candidate by and his campaign is being managed by experienced pols. Normally, I would say he received an extremely lenient sentence, but in light of the fact that almost all of the true ringleaders of the vote hauling/buying affair got off Scot free, I think the Judge was most fair. It turns out the big ticket convictions obtained by the government in these cases resulted from charges that should never have been brought in the first place, so, I think the Judge did okay here.

i bet this will slap on the wrist will keep this from happening again.... the legal system at its finest(sarcasm)..

[David Adams]

What's really funny is that one of Turner's character witnesses was Ed Worley.

"Surreal" is the word that comes to mind on that one.

[VALERIE SMITH]

What should be an embarrassment to the democratic party is eastern ky and how they are 50 years behind times. Johnny Ray was the only person who was ever able to beat Benny Ray Bailey and he was a powerful senator who in my book did nothing for eastern ky. I know for a fact that Johnny Ray's campaign was ran the same way every person who is elected in eastern ky is ran. So for that i am grateful that he did not have to go to jail.

Wow, Valerie. It sounds like you're using the "they did it too" defense. Breaking the law is wrong, no matter how you slice it. Turner is lucky he's not going to jail.

[VALERIE SMITH]

Why dont we just get rid of the vote-hauling checks?

[VALERIE SMITH]

Why dont we just get rid of the vote-hauling checks?

Oddly enough, I believe it was when Benny Ray Bailey was the Senate leader that the concept of the vote-hauling check legislation was passed, and I think he was a strong proponent of it. Ironic, eh?

What nobody seems to be mentioning is the fact that Mitch McConnell, Hal Rogers and David Williams all had the same contributors as those who sparked this investigation of Sen Turner. Note none of them were ever accused of any wrong-doing.

It's called "Selective Prosecution".

Sen Turner is a fair, upstanding, honest man. Anyone who says otherwise has either has never met him or is Mark Nicholas. Sad either way.

oh god. it's all mark nickolas' fault. LMAO.

I think Ben Chandler also had the same contributors, as did Chief Justice Lambert's wife, Debra.

If Turner was investigated, so too, should they have been.

turner is simply a pawn who lacks the intelligence to organize and oversee a crime.

From what I understand, Senator Turner is a former high school basketball coach who was recruited to run against then-Senator Benny Ray Bailey, a member of a political clique that included once-upon-a-time candidate for Governor Dr. Grady Stumbo. The goal of Turner's backers was simple: beat Bailey who had been heavily involved in a Court of Appeals race where an incumbent was unseated, against the desires of Turner's supporters. Probably a good man who got caught up in a bad situation. No jail time is fair, I think.

i think the whole mountain mafia should be handcuffed and duct-taped.

[Holler Boy]

This is so disheartening. What lesson does this teach to his students? It's OK to cheat.

Yes, this is the way campaigns have been run in eky for many years, but all the more reason to send someone like Johnny Ray, caught virtually red-handed, to prison. If he'd been a poor person, or someone less well-connected, you can bet he'd have done time.

He's not a good person. He's a thief and a crook, a liar and a user, representing the very reason that young people so wholeheartedly show disinterest in political issues.

This guy even exposed his own family to the potential of serious incarceration by bringing them in and using them in a scheme to defraud the rest of us who only vote our conscience, not for money. He encouraged them to commit perjury for Harris and the other Turner, and they willfully complied.

Actually, I think they should all have gone to jail.

What with Alberto Gonzales and his crew, this type of thing just destroys ordinary citizens' faith in our criminal justice system. There's a price to be paid for this kind of denigration of our ethical standards ... it demeans us all.

Ah, God. Just doesn't give me much hope for any of us. HB.

From what I hear, one person luckier than Johnny Ray Turner was Greg Stumbo. I heard that the feds were sniffing up Stumbo's butt really heavy on this one. I'm surprised he didn't get indicted.

Yeah, the Mountain Mafia needs to be eradicated once and for all. I would love to see all the Stumbos and Turners etc doin the perp walk.

Yeah, the Mountain Mafia needs to be eradicated once and for all. I would love to see all the Stumbos and Turners etc doin the perp walk.

While some of you folks are ranting about the Mountain Mafia, important votes are being bought and sold every single day in the halls of Congress and in statehouses all across this nation. Just because you are an elected official and get your check from a PAC, special interest group or a lobbyist in a $2500.00 suit does not mean the practice should be accepted. Do not misunderstand me: vote buying and selling is a despicable practice, but the harm caused by the so-called Mountain Mafia pales in comparison to the irreparable harm visited upon our state and nation by elected officials being bought by special interest money. Believe me, it happens every single day. That, my friends, is more contemptible to me than the evils of vote hauling checks.

[GoJohnny]

Hal Rogers took money from every person listed in this mess, he also took 70,000 dollars and several trips from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abrahams, you do not see Hal Rogers facing Jail time. Selective prosecution makes this type of crime look like a political payback system. The judge did the right thing, Johnny is a good fellow, he was a novice when this happened, he has won again where he did not do it again and his opponent did those things against him. Beating Benny Ray was a great thing for E.KY, but also by Beating Benny Ray, Johnny had to know payback was coming. This is his payback from Benny Ray. I will vote for Johnny again, he has done a fine job for E. KY. If you are going to throw rocks at the glass house, then everyone involved in these practices, and I mean everyone needs to be prosecuted. I do not think we will see that happen. Prosecuting the pawns does not solve anything. I am not saying that everyone does it makes it right, I am saying that if everyone does it, then everyone must be prosecuted or nobody should.

Hal should be tried for a lot of things. That still does not make Johnny Turner a hero or a victim. I wish there were a limit to the number of Turner family members allowed to post here. Getting old.

[GoJohnny]

It is either a crime for everyone or it is not a crime at all! I am not a turner by the way, just a person that wants fair prosecution. If 10 people rob a bank and only one gets prosecuted, then robbing banks should be legal. Prosecute Hal Rogers and then I will believe this was not a witch hunt.

justice will never be served until we get your boy stumbo out of the ag office. every mountain politician is corrupt DUH.

[Conservative]

I know a judge in E. Kentucky that is not crooked. He is honest and a man of honor and it is because he does not need the job like most of these politicians.

Posted by: Holler Boy | April 23, 2007 at 07:44 PM

From what I hear, one person luckier than Johnny Ray Turner was Greg Stumbo. I heard that the feds were sniffing up Stumbo's butt really heavy on this one. I'm surprised he didn't get indicted.

You scratch my back and Ill scratch yours...
You think that may have been why Stumbo let Gov. Fletcher off the hook? hummmm just a random thought...