Former Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada, center, leaves the Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse in Nashville on August 23, 2022 after being arraigned on 20 counts of conspiracy. Casada is flanked by attorneys Ed Yarbrough, left, and Jonathan Farmer. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The federal bribery and kickback trial for former House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, is being delayed for six months until April 2025.
U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson rescheduled the trial Thursday for April 22 after the government mistakenly provided copies of former Rep. Robin Smith’s electronic devices without filtering privileged attorney-client information. The information had to be scrubbed, and Casada’s and Cothren’s attorneys claimed it hurt their trial preparation.
Smith, a Hixson Republican, pleaded guilty in the case and is cooperating with federal prosecutors against Casada and Cothren, who are accused of running a secret vendor that did nearly $52,000 worth of state-funded constituent mailers for House Republicans without their knowledge of who ran the company.
Cothren allegedly gave kickbacks to Smith and Casada in return for directing business to his company, Phoenix Solutions, which he ran through the alias, Matthew Phoenix. Secrecy was required because Cothren was bounced from his chief of staff post in a racist and sexist texting scandal that rocked Casada’s House speakership. Casada left the leadership post after seven months in 2019.
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