A hearing date of Feb. 29 has been set for the appeal of Former Sullivan County Highway Commissioner Allan Pope, who was convicted in 2010 on theft and corruption charges.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals will hear the case in Knoxville.
Pope was convicted that November of official misconduct, theft of over $10,000 and private use of county equipment. He was sentenced to six years of probation and ordered to pay $108,000 in restitution.
The charges stemmed from two projects -- a private ditch that was dug by the highway department for a water line in 2010 and a dirt bank that was removed in 2006. The work involved county equipment and manpower and benefited private local developers.
Pope’s attorney, Dan Smith, in a brief to the court, argued that Pope was wrongly convicted of official misconduct because Pope did not benefit directly from the excavation work. Only the developers benefited, he said.
In a response, the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office said that Smith’s interpretation of the statute “is too narrow.” The office cited a case in which a police chief had a ticket doctored for his nephew’s wife as well as a case when a highway commissioner paved a road after the developer paid for the oil. In both cases, the convictions were upheld.
Pope’s attorney also takes issue with a statute cited during the trial testimony of Larry Bailey, the county’s accounts and budgets director, who introduced the Tennessee County Uniform Highway Act. Bailey discussed Pope’s duties as “chief administrative officer” of the highway department under that act. Smith argued that the act does not apply to Pope because the duties of highway commissioner were established by a private act of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The state acknowledged that Smith referenced the wrong statute in his testimony but said the language in the private act and the Uniform Highway Act “both provide that a highway commissioner shall have control over the public county roads.” Regardless of the statute, a highway commissioner does not have the authority to do work that benefits a private entity, the state argues.
Finally, Pope’s attorney said the case was not within the court’s jurisdiction, but rather “a matter for the citizens of the county to remedy if they see fit at the next election. …”
The Attorney General’s Office argued that official misconduct is within the jurisdiction of the court.
Judge Jerry Beck denied Smith’s motion in June to overturn the conviction.
jshea@bristolnews.com
(276) 645-2511
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