Pumpkin-Gate: The RICO Effect
by Bill Simon
MEMORANDUM
To: Morris “Pepper” Pettit (witness to Burt’s Pumpkin Farm GOP Rally Incident)
From: Bill Simon, PoliticalVine.com
RE: Your exposure to losing everything you hold dear
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Mr. Pettit,
Let me be clear: I am not a lawyer. I do not practice law, I do not offer legal advice….I doubt I could even play one on TV.
However, I do know how to read legal material. And, based on what I read in this tiny little section of the O.C.G.A., 16-14-3: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”), your involvement as a “witness” in this “thing” that happened on August 23rd at Burt’s Pumpkin Farm, is placing you squarely in the potential legal crosshairs of, at minimum, committing an act of perjury…and, quite possibly, the crosshairs of the State RICO statute.
You reside in the unincorporated area of Dawson County, at Parcel # L22 016, and according to the 2014 Dawson County Tax Year Value Information, your property is valued at about $1.55 million.
You appear to be a whiz in the insurance brokerage business. By “whiz” I mean very successful at building relationships with people, and being able to parlay those relationships into building a really good book of business. Enough business to own a steadily increasing piece of real estate worth over $1.5 million. That’s a really good job on your part. I admire people who can do that really well.
But, wouldn’t it be a shame if, on the advice of some lawyer you knew, someone you thought was looking out for your best interests in his advice to you…when in fact, he’s not looking out for your best interest; he is only looking out for his own interest…wouldn’t it be a shame if you were caught lying under oath on the witness stand in a trial where you were one of at least 4 co-conspirators, all relying on each other to tell their part of the story “right” to maintain the facade to protect only one of you…and one or more of the others slipped-up, forgot how he or she was supposed to say something, and they get caught on cross-examination to have lied?
See, right now, you guys (you, Johnny Burt, Kathy Burt, Clint Bearden, and likely some other folks who will line-up to testify against Nydia Tisdale), have all been told by one guy that “Okay, Pepper, this is what we have to say happened, this is what you are going to claim, and Johnny and Kathy will back us up…”
Mr. Pettit, it’s one thing to talk to a Sheriff who will look out for your best interests (especially, if y’all are poker buddies or friends in some other ways), and one thing to even go on the witness stand and let the prosecutor ask you what you saw and what someone said…and everything is just like the good times y’all have in GOP politics now…until you get cross-examined by a defense attorney who knows his/her stuff, and your buddy, the lawyer, isn’t around to advise you on what to say if Tisdale’s defense attorney throws you a curveball you could not have rehearsed for. What then?
Someone sent me a note earlier today, documenting major, glaring descrepancies between what the Tisdale video shows of Tisdale being dragged like a mannequin by Off-Duty Deputy Tony Wooten…and the comments made on the record by both Johnny Burt AND Clint Bearden in this DawsonNews.com article.
These glaring discrepancies point to Bearden and Burt making false statements to the media about the events of that day. Four statements, at minimum, that can be proven to be lies in a courtroom, if Burt and Bearden stick to their stories as they are in print in the DawsonNews.com story.
So, I wanted to show you the laws you might be exposing yourself to be committing if you are caught lying on the witness stand, after you swore ON a Bible to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth’:
OCGA 16-4-3(9)(A) “Racketeering activity” means to commit, to attempt to commit, or to solicit, coerce, or intimidate another person to commit any crime which is chargeable by indictment under the following laws of this state:
OCGA 16-10-20. False statements and writings, concealment of facts
Punishment upon conviction: Minimum $1000 fine and not less than one year, nor more than 5 years for each count (i.e., a “count” being each time you are caught lying).
OCGA 16-10-20.1. Filing false documents
Punishment if found guilty: punished by imprisonment of not less than one nor more than ten years, a fine not to exceed $10,000.00, or both.
Mr. Petitt, it sure would be a darn shame to…volunteer to lie on someone else’s behalf…and you get caught doing it, and then lose EVERYTHING you have because you got caught lying over something this…trivial (if I can say that word) a matter: a video-journalist participating in a political rally on a Pumpkin Farm.
I’m not in your shoes, Sir. But, boy, how embarrassed are you going to feel if you are caught lying because your other co-conspirators didn’t hold-on to their “right story” so that your lie(s) would be safely maintained?
And, forget “feeling embarrassed”….just think about your life now, as a free person…what is going to happen if you get charged with a minimum of one count of Racketeering? A criminal defense attorney may be an affordable expense for a man of your means….but, here’s the thing: If any of your current “friends/co-conspirators” in this matter ALSO get caught lying on the witness stand, and get offered a plea deal to turn all the others in via state’s evidence…you may be caught holding the short end of the stick.
You have so…so…so very much to consider in how you want to live-out the rest of your life, Mr. Petitt. I hope you make the right choice, not for anyone else’s benefit, but the right decision for you and your life.
