John Ford says the FBI illegally seized a $40,000 Rolex wristwatch from him when he was arrested in 2005 and it should be kept out of evidence in his upcoming bribery trial. The former state senator said in legal papers filed Wednesday that he obtained the watch legally and it offers no evidence of any wrongdoing. ".
..The defense would submit that the government has been in illegal possession of the watch for a year and a half,'' said the motion filed by Ford's lawyer, Michael Scholl, who seeks to suppress the watch from evidence.
Scholl's motion came in response to a notice by prosecutors that they intend to use the diamond-studded Rolex Masterpiece at Ford's trial set to start Feb. 5 in Memphis. Citing adverse pretrial publicity, Scholl wants to postpone the trial until at least April.
Ford is accused of taking $55,000 in bribes from FBI agents posing as corrupt businessmen in the Tennessee Waltz undercover sting. Prosecutors say the watch that Ford obtained from Memphis real estate developer Rusty Hyneman offers evidence of "like and similar'' conduct by Ford in the past. Ford got the watch in 2004 around the time he asked state pollution control officials to consider decreasing fines levied against Hyneman.
Ford didn't convince authorities to grant any decrease, and a suit by the state against Hyneman remains open. Scholl says in his motion that Ford and Hyneman "were friends'' who "traded watches,'' and that Ford got nothing in exchange for his official actions. Neither Hyneman nor Ford have been charged in connection to the watch.
"There is no credible proof that Mr. Ford received the watch for any reduction of a fine on behalf of Mr. Hyneman,'' Scholl said in the motion that says the watch would be "extremely prejudicial'' and "a distraction to the jury'' if put into evidence.
Asst. U.S.
Atty. Tim DiScenza said he can't comment on the matter but that an appropriate court response will be filed soon. Scholl's motion says Ford has a receipt to show he purchased the watch he then traded to Hyneman, and that the initial watch has "a far greater collector's value than the initial purchase price because of certain features.
'' The motion also says that when Ford was arrested in May 2005 at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville, Ford was told to remove the watch to be handcuffed. The watch was placed in a box in a suitcase to be picked up for Ford. "Then, instead of leaving the luggage for someone to pick up, the agents seized his luggage and took it and Mr.
Ford 200 miles away to Memphis,'' Scholl said in the motion. "..
.The agents illegally seized the suitcase and its belongings without a proper search warrant.
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