Former Tennessee House speaker sentenced to 3 years in prison for legislative mail scheme

A jury found Republican Glen Casada guilty of 17 of 19 charges. His former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, was sentenced last week to 2 1/2 years in prison.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A former Tennessee House speaker was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison after being convicted in a scheme with a onetime aide to win taxpayer-funded mail business from lawmakers after scandals drove the two out of their top leadership roles.

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson in Nashville handed down the sentence for former Republican Rep. Glen Casada, a court document shows. Casada’s former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, was also convicted in the case and received a 2 1/2-year prison sentence last week.

In May a jury found Casada guilty of 17 of 19 charges, and Cothren was found guilty of all 19 counts in a public corruption trial that began in late April.

Earlier this month the judge acquitted the pair of three counts in the case while leaving in place the convictions on the rest of the charges, including use of a fictitious name to carry out fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Their convictions set off social media fights months ago over whether a pardon would be warranted. Country musician John Rich called for President Donald Trump to pardon Cothren, while Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, the former famed professional wrestler Kane, called it “unfathomable” that any Republican would push for pardons for Casada or Cothren.