Rankin-Madison District Attorney Michael Guest issued the following press release:
Former Alderman Candidate
Sentenced to Five Years for Voter Fraud
Madison and Rankin Counties’
District Attorney Michael Guest announced today that Cobby Williams was
sentenced to five (5) years in prison for his participation in knowingly
registering a convicted felon to vote.
In
May, 2013, the City of Canton was conducting the Municipal elections for Mayor
and Aldermen. Williams was a candidate
for one of the Alderman posts. He had
previously been a candidate for Congress in Mississippi’s Second District in
2012.
Prior
to the election, in March, 2013, Williams went to the home of Pamela Walker
(“Walker”) with the intent of registering her to vote in the May election. Pamela Walker had previous felony convictions
for False Pretense, Uttering a Forgery, and Identity Theft, all of which are
disenfranchising crimes.
Walker
informed Williams she was a convicted felon and not eligible to vote. Despite knowing this, Williams insisted
Walker fill out voter registrations forms.
Williams took the forms and turned them in to the Madison County Circuit
Clerk’s Office for the registration of Walker.
It
was quickly discovered by the Circuit Clerk that Walker was a convicted felon
and not eligible to vote. The District
Attorney’s Office began an immediate investigation. Upon questioning, Walker
admitted she filled out the forms but they were turned in by Williams. Subsequent investigation confirmed Williams
had turned in the forms, knowing full well Walker was not eligible to vote, in
violation of §23-15-17, False Registration of Another.
“The
crime was Mr. Williams knew Ms. Walker was not eligible to vote and still
attempted to register her to vote by turning in the forms to the Circuit
Clerk”, stated Guest.
A
Madison County Grand Jury indicted Williams in October, 2013, charging him with
one (1) count of voter fraud, carrying a maximum of five (5) years in
prison. Williams pled Guilty to the
crime and was sentenced to five years in the custody of the Mississippi
Department of Corrections, suspended, with five years of Supervised Probation.
Guest stated, “Electoral fraud
can reduce voters' confidence in democracy and we will always prosecute those
who try to illegally manipulate an outcome of an election. Even the perception of fraud can be damaging
as it makes people less inclined to accept election results and fosters
mistrust in our system.”
Guest concluded, “It does not
matter if you are a current holder of political office, a candidate for office,
or a voter, we will prosecute anyone who violates the statutes pertaining to
voter fraud. I would personally like to
thank Assistant District Attorney Bryan Buckley for his hard work on these
extremely important cases.”
Since 2010, the District Attorney
has obtained seven (7) convictions for voter fraud as a result of these
investigations.
District Attorney Michael Guest was
sworn into office in January 2008 and represents the Twentieth Judicial
District, Madison and Rankin Counties.
For more information regarding the District Attorney’s office, please
visit www.daguest.com
Defendant:
Name: Cobby M. Williams
Address: 331
Dobson Avenue, Canton
Date of Birth: July 31, 1976
12 comments:
A lot of people who know Cobby wish today wasn't April Fool's day.
How many voter fraud convictions in Hinds County by our
District Attorney? goose egg
He was sentenced to five years in prison, suspended, and give years of supervised probation.
He got off soft.
Barbara Dunn does not register felons here. But you can- as a felon- get yourself a pistol and defend yourself. Or commit additional felonies. Or just do other stupid stuff to get a free 'go back to jail' card.
12:38 - are you saying that there are not any felons registered to vote in Hinds County? Go home and promise not to post anywhere again until you get a clue.
9:68 - your analysis is correct about the number of voter fraud convictions in Hinds County by our DA; but sadly, this is the case in most every district in the state. Guest is one of the few DA's that will take on voter fraud crime. However, the DA in Hattiesburg has tried after the last election, but the majority black Grand Jury refused to release an indictment since the only ones charged with voter fraud happened to be black. Granted, that was all the evidence led to, but that didn't stop the members of the Grand Jury from refusing to indict on that basis. Give her credit - she now makes two DAs willing to tackle this crime.
2:08 if it is as wide as you claim with felons on the voter rolls in many counties---it is a state problem. Delbert Hosemann might investigate select voter rolls if its as big as you say and he can recommend legislation. The matter could be corrected by the clerks going forward in the registration process if deputy clerks checked a crime database.
I am a died in the wool republican. This is significant, but why is this more important than $27,700,000.00 in money that was misspent for the benefit of investors who apparently where going to make money if the Parkway East development were to succeed but would not suffer financial loss if it failed. Apparently the taxpayers in Madison County are going to eat the loss. Also, there is some suspicion that Madison county taxpayers are also eating the "Lost Rabbit" investment also perpetrated by investors who transferred their losses to Madison County taxpayers for their losses.
Five years in jail would seem a bit much for registering one felon. Supervised probation is not a walk in the park. If you know anything at all about supervised probation you know that's true. If you don't, you won't.
This case was handled and adjudicated properly. The guilty party was sentenced and will undoubtedly enjoy a loss of personal freedom for five years. The community will take notice and others might avoid the same temptation. Those who say there is no voter fraud will lose another argument. And, corruption in Canton gets another black eye.
Now Cobby doesn't get to vote ! Bah ha ha
Now Cobby doesn't get to vote ! Bah ha ha
A person convicted of active, intentional voter fraud will ALWAYS find a way to vote.
Speaking of corruption in Canton, whatever happened to that alderman named Louis Smith. He was indicted about a year ago as I recall.
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