A federal appeals court has overturned the convictions of eight southeastern Kentucky people sent to prison for taking part in what prosecutors described as a massive vote buying scheme.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered new trials for former Clay County Circuit Judge R. Cletus Maricle, former school superintendent Doug Adams and six other defendants.
Judge Karen Nelson Moore ruled that U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves allowed jurors to hear some evidence that should not have been admitted and erred in his handling of transcripts of secret tape recordings that an informant made during the FBI investigation.
Prosecutors argued that the group conspired to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy votes in one of the nation’s poorest counties in 2002, 2004 and 2006.