Secret tape played as Potter trial commences
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Those were the words uttered by District Attorney General Dale Potter on a secret recording which prosecutors hope will serve as a smoking gun in the case against the first-term prosecutor, who went on trial Tuesday on felony charges of extortion and official misconduct. Jury selection took up the entire day Monday.
The tape, made by Potter’s accuser, Samantha Salamone with help from former Warren County Sheriff’s Investigator Kenny Prater, was played for the eight-man, eight-woman jury yesterday.
Prosecutors, in their opening statement, claimed Potter wanted Salamone to write a letter to the editor of the Southern Standard about his child support office before he would re-open her child support case. Salamone’s mother had earlier wrote a letter critical of his child support office.
“The facts are undeniable. This is extortion,” said special prosecutor Hal Hardin. “We don’t stand for this.”
Potter’s attorney, Bill Ramsey, maintained his client, who was raised by a single mother himself and “pulled himself up by his own bootstraps” did not intend to break any law, but instead only wanted Salamone to “tell the truth” and set the record straight in the requested letter to the editor. Ramsey further maintained Salamone had voluntarily closed her child support case on an earlier occasion so she could file a joint tax return with the father of her two young children, Jason Byers. He then maintained she wanted to open her case again when she got into a fight with the father, who is now the reported custodial parent of the children.
During testimony, Potter’s right-hand assistant prosecutor, Thomas Miner, told the court he and his boss discussed the Salamone matter after Potter told her to write a letter to the editor.
“I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea,” Miner testified, noting while advising Potter against it, he did not think his boss’ actions constituted an illegal act. “If I thought he was doing something illegal, I would have pointed that out to him.”
Sheriff Jackie Matheny, who took the stand for a short time to tell how the covert tapes and case was turned over to the TBI, disagreed with Miner’s assessment.
“In my opinion, I would believe it would be wrong,” Matheny said.
Prosecutors pointed out Salamone was urged to capture Potter’s words on tape so it would not be her words against his. Joe McPeak, a relative of Salamone’s, and local private investigator Kim Blake both said they encouraged Salamone to tape Potter. Blake said she helped set the phone recording device on one occasion when they captured Potter’s assistant, Misty Moore, on tape. The defense was quick to point out Blake worked for a private company which charged a fee to find and enforce child support payments, making her in direct competition with Potter’s child support office.
The sheriff’s department assisted in the tape made of Potter, making the tape from Salamone’s home phone in case the district attorney had caller ID.
“He Potter may not have wanted to talk to her if he looked down and saw she was calling from the Warren County Sheriff’s Department,” Prater noted.
The prosecution spent much of the morning cementing evidence that Potter required the letter from Salamone before her child support case would be re-opened.
Former Assistant District Attorney Beth Willis, who served with the local child support division, recalled Potter had posted a note on the Salamone child support papers, telling them not to re-open the case until a letter from Salamone appeared in the paper.
Former child support case manager Misty Moore echoed Willis’ recollection, saying she was specifically told not to re-open the case until a letter ran. Moore was also caught on a covert tape made by Salamone which was played for the jury.
“Dale said a letter had to be printed in the paper before we could re-open the case,” Moore testified.
All of the former employees who testified admitted it was unusual for Potter to put conditions on the opening of a child support case. Rebecca Sells of the state child support enforcement division maintained offices, such as Potter’s, which receive funds and are under contract with the state, cannot refuse to open or re-open cases. However, Ramsey pointed out the contract does not contain the words “re-open” anywhere. Sells later noted the local child support office is “above average” in the area of child support enforcement.
Another former Potter employee, Jean Gilchrist-Brock, who presently has a civil suit against her former boss claiming sexual harassment, said she was warned by Potter, shortly after the covert tapings were discovered, to be careful what she said on the phone. She also said Potter was the only person allowed to talk to the press from the office.
Along with the aforementioned witnesses, former Circuit Court Judge Charles Haston found himself in the unusual position of being on the witness stand, less than a month after he left the bench. Haston recalled Potter came to his house after the TBI probe and began to speak with him about the situation. However, Haston said Potter did not seem worried.
“He seemed to be bemused,” Haston recalled, later noting Potter, being an officer of the court, may have just been giving him a “heads up” on the situation.
The prosecution will continue today at 9 a.m. at Warren County Courthouse. It is still not known if Salamone will take the stand. She was not present in the courtroom Tuesday.