| Lee says prosecution was driven by politics
I would like to take this opportunity to speak out about a legal situation that I have been involved with for nearly a year now. On the advice of legal counsel, I have been unable to do so until the situation was resolved. As a city commissioner and elected official, it has frustrated me that I could not speak out and defend myself publicly, but that is the way it had to be that is, until now.
Over the last year, Ford County Attorney John Sauer has filed numerous charges against me. He started out with a felony charge, then reduced it to a misdemeanor. Then he added another trumped-up misdemeanor charge to that one. What I saw in court on Sept. 25 was proof that the innocent do have their day, and I am extremely grateful for the decision the jury made in finding me NOT GUILTY on all counts.
I have believed from the beginning that this whole thing was pushed by our community’s political machine, meaning those who think of themselves as something special, contrary to my views, and cannot stand the thought of an elected official disagreeing with them. This became very evident when the complaining party, Kathy Ramsour, offered to agree to reduce charges if I would resign from the city commission, which I of course refused to do.
This made me wonder who is really in charge, the prosecutor or Ramsour? The determination of legal charges is the responsibility of the prosecutor alone. All this incident involved was a simple parking dispute between myself and a principal who bristles at the notion of having her authority challenged. No people were ever endangered, and the jury obviously found no credibility with her story.
What really complicated the matter was our arrogant county attorney improperly taking the matter out of the hands of the local police, whose investigation found no basis for any criminal charges. Therefore, I am strongly considering pursuing charges of prosecutorial misconduct against Mr. Sauer. In taking four months to come to the conclusion that the charges were not felonies, as I see it, he tried to destroy my career and life.
As far as I am concerned, Sauer is either incompetent in his knowledge of the law, or he is simply a puppet for the political machine in our community. To think of the resources and money wasted on this travesty is mind-boggling. I sincerely hope that our legal community has had enough of his kind and drafts a competent counselor to dethrone him at the next election in 2008. We need a prosecutor that can keep employees hired so the workload doesn’t provide him with a lame excuse to bum misdemeanors off on the city court system. He is too busy for those cases, except when the opportunity to bag a city commissioner is there.
On a more positive note, I would like to thank all of the people that have personally supported me throughout this ordeal. I am also very thankful to the individuals that provided the funds for my legal defense. Thanks to them, not one penny has left my pocket for this outrage.
In times like this, it was very reassuring to know that the public could see beyond the headlines and realize the dirty politics of our community had reared their ugly head once again. If it wasn’t so disgusting, I might be flattered that I am such a thorn in the sides of those who feel that they have to be in control. However, this time justice prevailed, and I am very grateful. I would now hope that we can move on to more productive and positive things for our community.
Commissioner Terry Lee
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Congratulations Terry Lee  |