Macon Fact Check

Check back here for regular updates on the alleged #DallemandBriberyScheme trial.

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Week Three:  Day 1

Monday,October 8, 2018​

• This is probably the last week of witness testimonies.  This jury is ready to go home and it’s understandable.  

• Judge Treadwell ruled on the motion presented by Steve Labriola to acquit CGPICD of all its charges due to insufficient evidence and presentation by the prosecution/government. That’s a real shame because the organization has been poised to do so much great work needed in Macon-Bibb County. Hopefully, they can recover and move on. 

• Defense Attorney, Nick Lotito called John Chandler, founder and CEO of Starr Choices, a legacy non-profit organization whose central mission is to support people with disabilities, exceptionalities and challenges.  Cliffard Whitby has been on the Starr Choices board for over three decades.  Chandler heaped more praise on Whitby’s commitment to community, the disability community, and revitalization.  Whitby revitalized the offices of Starr Choices, a $300,000.00 building project—completed without even a contract or an error.  Chandler believes this is another part of Whitby’s legacy—his expert attention to detail and unimpeachable character.  Chandler is also on the board of PICD. 

• The Whitby Defense team moved to allow the Knowles Defense team to call its character witnesses.  If you think Whitby’s witnesses were a Who’s Who of Macon-Bibb, Knowles’ witnesses were definitely a Who’s Who of North Florida. 

• Knowles Defense Attorney Pam Marsh has been handling the cross examination of the Knowles character witnesses:

• Rev. Dr. R. B. Holmes, Senior Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee FL with a congregation of nearly 3k members. Dr. Holmes believes Harold Knowles to have unimpeachable character.  Knowles has championed many community improvement projects and provided free legal services to the church for years. Holmes only spoke highly of Knowles there was no cross examination of him. Many sports enthusiasts were very thrilled to see Holmes who was once a college baseball legend. 

• Linda Dillworth of KMR Consulting: Ms. Dillworth is a nationally renowned education consultant. She and Knowles are partners in the firm and have completed education reform projects in FL and across the nation. They were interested in providing some of their firm’s services to the Bibb School system as well as using some of the strategic highlights from the Macon Miracle in other school systems. She also testified to the high moral and ethical character of Harold Knowles as a person and business partner. 

• Dr. Randy Hannah, Esq.:  Dr. Hannah is a Dean at Florida State University, an attorney, and a community development advocate.  He has worked with Knowles on various projects at the college level and grassroots level.  He talked about the many community services Knowles has provided at no charge to improve struggling communities.  He also mentioned serving with Knowles on many civic organization boards across the state and nation.

• Dr. Larry Rivers: The former President of The Fort Valley State University left a legacy of success and achievement during his tenure. He shared his connections to Macon-Bibb County, his expansive curriculum vitae, and his undying admiration for Harold Knowles.  He described Knowles as a visionary, innovator, and servant leader.  He also mentioned the numerous philanthropic projects of Harold Knowles and his family.  He also mentioned Knowles connection to education reform initiatives and his desire to see more reform P-12 and college. 

• Harold Knowles, Esq. took the witness stand today.  All his accounts of his relationship to Dallemand were based on an attorney-client relationship per Knowles.  He reviewed contracts, referred service providers, introduced Dallemand to education leaders, and even provided Dallemand with a connection to a film company to help him produce a documentary on the Macon Miracle.  Knowles shared his life story as well as his legacy as a civil rights icon in the state of Florida.  Knowles integrated a school system as well as the University of Florida School of Law.  Knowles has a history of being involved in education and community development projects and initiatives.  He has worked on several multi-million dollar projects and was hoping to work with Dallemand and others to reform struggling communities/education systems.  Knowles told his version of the $100,000.00.  He viewed Dallemand as a client so when asked to place the $100k in trust, he didn’t see anything amiss until he received a call from Cliffard Whitby requesting a refund of the funds.  Knowles had already reimbursed Dallemand but due to Florida law and Whitby’s proof of the cashier check—he reimbursed Whitby as well. Knowles exclaimed that he was out of $100,000.00 because of Dallemand’s duplicity.  From helping Dallemand to confirm his travel due to an open records request to other numerous favors, Knowles did seem to be acting more in the role of attorney than a friend.  He also refuted the story of the dinner in South Georgia where cell phones were placed in a separate car.  Knowles believed Dallemand planned these elaborate schemes as a confidence man. He also believed that Dallemand’s delusions of grandeur were part of his inability to serve as a credible witness to anything.  Knowles also refuted the story about the stock agreement.  He said they were in negotiation but Dallemand never produced any money or always came up short. Knowles said it wasn’t a sham—he fully expected Dallemand to buy shares of Pinnacle stock like any other stockholder. Knowles was also interested in Dallemand’s interest in doing outreach work in Haiti; doing work in Haiti was a goal and desire for Knowles. He believed because Dallemand was Haitian that his ideas and plans were legitimate until he later realized how Dallemand always fell short on producing anything real or tangible about his Haiti plans. 

• The prosecution has a lot of work to do on their closing argument.  The pieces of their grand puzzle have been unraveling since the first witness was called. The prosecution has proven lots of circumstantial connections but nothing truly concrete. There are still some motions for Judge Treadwell’s consideration out there, i.e., the venue, the process and/or conspiracy by definition, as well as this whole bribe vs. reward theory put forth by the prosecution. Both Whitby and Knowles are true heroes in their respective communities, neither of them has any records of foul play in years of construction and general contracting work.  Even the prosecution’s witnesses spoke highly of both.  One thing they both have in common right now is hindsight. Seth Kirschenbaum mentioned the “Dallemand Kool-Aid” in his opening statement a few weeks ago, both Whitby and Knowles took big sips of it.  Knowles remarked on Dallemand being a “legend in his own mind”.  Seems like the prosecution finds him to be legendary too. Right now, the only opinion that matters are that of the jury.  They have a great deal of information and testimonies to sift parse through.  It has been grueling on them.  Tomorrow are the closing arguments/statements then the jury will deliberate and return a verdict. 

Week Three: Day 2

 

 

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

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• Closing Arguments today:

  • Prosecution Attorney:

  • Defense Attorney:

  • Defense Attorney-Whitby:

  • Defense Attorney-Whitby:

• Judge Treadwell gave the official “charge” to the jurors. 

• The jury deliberated for 2-3 hours and returned with the following verdicts:

  • Count 1: Bribery Conspiracy-Cliffard Whitby and Harold Knowles:  NOT GUILTY

  • Count 2: Paying a bribe-Cliffard Whitby and Harold Knowles:  NOT GUILTY  

  • Count 3:  Paying a bribe-Cliffard Whitby:  NOT GUILTY

  • Count 4:  Paying a bribe-Cliffard Whitby:  NOT GUILTY

  • Count 5:  Paying a bribe-Cliffard Whitby:  NOT GUILTY

  • Count 6: Paying a bribe-Cliffard Whitby: NOT GUILTY

  • Count 7: Offering a bribe-Harold Knowles: NOT GUILTY

  • Count 8: Conspiracy to launder money: Positiventures LLC, Harold Knowles, and Cliffard Whitby:  NOT GUILTY

• While Whitby exclaimed justice has been served, we still have questions and we will continue to expose the disgusting spending of tax payer money for public lynchings and witch hunts in Macon-Bibb County GA surrounding this case. 

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