A Richmond County jury is hearing a real-life case of alleged vote-buying this week.
Blythe City Councilman Daniel Martin faces up to 11 years in prison for soliciting a vote for mayoral candidate Phillip Stewart from an 18-year-old with spiked lemonade and cigarettes and supplying alcohol to a minor.
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In a small town, even one stolen vote matters, former Augusta DA Natalie Paine told the jury in opening statements.
The 2018 case is one of many from which Augusta Circuit District Attorney Jared Williams recused himself, due to his former law firm’s involvement in Martin’s defense. It was eventually assigned to Paine, now chief ADA in Columbia County.
Represented by Jacque Hawk, Martin turned down a plea offer Paine said was first-offender probation, and is having a jury decide it.
Hawk said in opening statements the 18-year-old from whom Martin is accused of buying a vote had reasons to lie and couldn’t keep his story straight.
The store clerk who reported the alleged crime was involved with the investigating officer, he said, suggesting rampant bias against Martin in the police investigation.
In addition, clerk Judy Cordova would become Martin’s political rival for a council seat.
During one contest results showed the Martin and Cordova actually tied in votes.
During their 2018 campaigns, Cordova and others in the town of 700 raised the issue of Martin’s inflammatory social media posts. She later asked Gov. Brian Kemp to suspend Martin from office.
The posts included photos of children holding guns. They referenced “white genocide,” race wars, “cucks” and the threat Democrats will “replace us with Muslims and other third-world filth,” according to prior reports.
Prior to the jury being seated Monday, Hawk and Paine got in a heated debate before Superior Court Judge Jesse Stone over Hawk’s plans to attempt to discredit witnesses Jacob Odom, the young man who allegedly took the bribe, as well as Cordova.
Hawk said the effort was to “gut my defense,” while Stone called his claims mostly speculation. But Stone refused Paine’s motion to restrict the claims during opening statements.
He recently rejected Martin’s motion to dismiss the indictment due to the length of time that had passed.
Stone firmly warned the jury against using social or any media to investigate the case or to discuss it with anyone.
The small-town election case has had widespread implications that included trips to the Supreme Court of Georgia and State Elections Board.
After former Blythe councilwoman Cyndi Parham lost the 2018 race for mayor to Martin’s candidate, Phillip Stewart, she alleged fraud in her four-vote loss.
At a bench trial, visiting judge Lawton Stephens held that Parham had not proved sufficient additional fraudulent votes – such as a man who said he was bribed by Martin with a chicken dinner and a vote by Stewart’s ex-wife – to change the outcome.
The state Supreme Court upheld Stephens’ ruling on the votes, as well as Martin’s right to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination numerous times at trial.
Martin’s trial continues Tuesday at the John H. Ruffin Courthouse at Augusta Judicial Center.
