The End of the Line

Yesterday, on June 22, 2006, James M. Horton, former president of CyberNET and as Brad Edwards of WOOD-TV put it "Barton Watson's chief button pusher" pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to criminal conspiracy, bank fraud, and two counts of money laundering. A couple things are noteworthy about this. First and foremost, Horton has now formally committed to cooperating with the federal prosecutors. This means he will be the star witness against the other alleged co-conspirators who include trophy wife Krista and Paul Wright the butler. The second noteworthy aspect is that the plea was in front of Chief Judge Robert Holmes Bell, instead of the magistrate judge who was originally supposed to take the plea. This means that Judge Bell may have wanted the case himself, and that he will be the one to sentence Horton. If it's true that Judge Bell wanted the case for himself, it is doubtful that he wanted it in order to be lenient at sentencing. Horton may well find that despite his cooperation, Judge Bell tees off on him at sentencing much like old Judge Gesell did on Barton Watson back in 1987.

The puzzling thing about the way the case has developed is that Horton -- arguably the most criminally culpable -- has emerged as the principal state's witness. I sense that the prosecution is going down the food chain instead of up.