Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Canton alderman candidate convicted of voter fraud

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:

Anonymous said...

A lot of people who know Cobby wish today wasn't April Fool's day.

Johnny Weir said...

How many voter fraud convictions in Hinds County by our
District Attorney?
goose egg

Anonymous said...

He was sentenced to five years in prison, suspended, and give years of supervised probation.

He got off soft.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Urine Sample Please said...

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.

Anonymous said...

Now Cobby doesn't get to vote ! Bah ha ha

Anonymous said...

Now Cobby doesn't get to vote ! Bah ha ha

Anonymous said...

A person convicted of active, intentional voter fraud will ALWAYS find a way to vote.

Anonymous said...

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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