Kentucky

Jury convicts all 8 defendants in Clay County vote-buying case

By Government Editor on State Government

By Bill Estep - bestep@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT ? Some of the most powerful politicians in Clay County corrupted the election process in recent years, buying and stealing votes in pursuit of power and money, a federal jury ruled Wednesday. After deliberating for more than 9 hours over the past two days, the jury convicted all eight people on trial, including former Circuit Judge R. Cletus Maricle and former school Superintendent Douglas C. Adams, on a racketeering conspiracy charge. That charge was that they used the county election board as a tool to rig elections, appointing corrupt precinct officers to help with vote-buying. The jury convicted several of the defendants on other charges as well, including mail fraud, extortion and laundering money that was used to buy votes. They face up to 20 years in prison, though their sentences will likely be less under advisory guidelines. Those charged in the case are Maricle; Adams; county Clerk Freddy W. Thompson; Magistrate Stanley Bowling; Charles Wayne Jones, a former Democratic election commissioner; William Stivers, a former election official; and William Bart Morris, who owns a garbage-transfer company, and his wife Debi Morris, who owns a beauty shop. They allegedly used the county board of elections as a vehicle to buy and steal votes between 2002 and 2007 so they could get power, jobs and contracts.