As most of you who know anything about Coosa County, Alabama can imagine, the whole county is abuzz with talk of the Frank Teel extortion case.
In every store I've been in, that has been the conversation. No one seems surprised about it. They've all lived under the oppressive rule of the Teel monarchy for years. Most say they are surprised it took this long. Everybody has a horror story about retired Judge Robert Teel, including yours truly. He was truly an evil man. One business owner told me yesterday that when Robert Teel retired he went into seclusion. If I had mistreated and pissed off nearly every citizen in my county for as many years as he did I probably go into deep hiding, too. Deep, deep hiding.
One conversation I had with a Coosa Co. business owner yesterday focused on the $5 million dollar extortion plot and how that money might have been split. This particular business owner said they believe it would have gone down like this.
$1 million for Frank Teel
$1 million for Frank Bailey
$1 million for DA Fred Thompson (Teel's boss)
$1 million for Judge John E. Rochester (Fred Thompson's boss of sorts and former law partner)
$1 million for the Coosa Co. Sheriff Terry Wilson
Why? Because all of those people would have had to be involved in order to make a capital murder indictment go away. And that rings true. At the very least Fred Thompson would have had to know because there really is no way for the assistant DA to make something like that happen without the DA knowing.
A few days ago I got an email from a friend of Carl Weaver (victim of alleged extortion plot) in Gadsden denying that Weaver had anything to do with the grow op found at the murder scene. They claim that Weaver had an altercation with one of the homicide victims about 9 months prior to the murders and that the survivor, Firestone, hired Bailey and Teel to represent him in a civil case against Weaver. From what I can determine the civil suit claims Weaver is in some way responsible for the murders and attempted murder. This person claims they (Teel, Bailey) decided shake down Weaver because he supposedly has a lot of money. Weaver owns a company called Techtrix in Gadsden, which was given a commendation by the Alabama legislature back when Guy Hunt was Governor. Techtrix Commendation
Someone on the Gadsden forums is claiming that Weaver was connected to the grow op and had beaten cocaine distribution and possession charges in the past by paying his way out of it. I haven't found anything to back that up media-wise.
Another thing no media outlet is reporting is who owned the 165 acres of land that the three victims were leasing in Coosa Co. at the time of the murders. According to an article in the Daily Home the hunting lodge was described as basically a shack made out of odds and ends pieces of wood with a tin roof. Former Sheriff Bill Evans believed that the people leasing the cabin (victims) were connected to the grow op because of the trail leading from the cabin to the plants. I want to know who owned that land. I think it is an important piece of this puzzle.
And how, in 1995 when the State of Alabama had choppers in the air looking for pot plants, did 1,300 of them get overlooked in a prime pot growing location along the Coosa River? Waterways, including small creek beds and streams, are always targeted. My guess is that someone with enough power and money paid the 'authorities' to you know...just pretend they didn't see it. Had to. According to the Alabama Dept. of Public Safety website, Alabama has had aircraft of various sorts in the air looking for marijuana plants since 1973. So, it wasn't overlooked by accident.
I asked for and received permission to post the email sent to me by a friend of Carl Weaver's . Here it is in its entirety.
I wanted to let you know that Carl Weaver is a friend of ours and he never owned any pot plants, never hired any guards and had nothing to do with the original murders. He was a target for the shake down because he is thought to have a lot of money and that's the only reason they went after him. From the very beginning he co-operated with the authorities and his actions were guided by their agents. As his friend, I wanted to set the record straight.
My response:
Thanks for your email. Please feel free to post your comments on my blog. I am happy to have your views represented there.
I was merely trying to connect the dots in the extremely puzzling case. Why was your friend Mr. Weaver facing a possible grand jury indictment for capital murder?
Friends response:
Hi Loretta, I understand it's a confusing case but to answer your question....he was never facing indictment. That was the leverage being used to extort the money. The surviving victim hired Mr. Bailey to sue the people arrested for the crime and somehow the assistant D. A. got involved. About nine months before the murders, Mr. Weaver had an altercation with one of the victims...that's the only involvment....and it was decided Carl might have deep pockets and would be a good candidate for a shakedown. The assistant D.A. threatened to see that Carl was indicted for the crime even though he had taped confessions admitting Mr. Weaver was not involved. After being approached, Carl sought legal counsel, his lawyer made the necessary contact with the ABI and from there on, that office ran the investigation.
It's going to be one heck of a story when the details are all released and I wouldn't be surprised if a number of other Coosa County officials are drawn into the crime.
I asked this person if they knew who owned the land that the murders and attempted murders took place on and they said they didn't know.
We had a nice, civil discourse, which is a rare thing when I blog about such a high profile case. Usually both sides wind up wanting to cut my head off (let's hope I don't get burned alive for talking about this one). This person was very polite. But, I can't buy into everything they said. For instance, how could someone be charged with capital murder if there wasn't evidence connecting them to a capital murder? Not to say that I trust the cops or the judicial morons running the show here, I don't. Can't stand any of them and hope they all go to state prison for the rest of their lives. But, still, how could one be connected to a capital murder if there was absolutely no evidence that they had anything to do with it? I don't get that part. Then again people go to prison all the time for things they didn't do, including being sentenced to death for capital murders they did not commit. Just ask the Innocence Project.
This morning when I looked at my email there were two comments on this post from the sister of murder victim Darell Coleman. She is convinced that Mr. Weaver should have been arrested 15 years ago when this happened and that he is responsible. I have given her my email address and asked her to contact me with her side of events. Maybe she will be able to answer the question of who owned the property in question. The one thing I will caution her against is bringing in the feds. They shouldn't be brought into this case unless there is just no other way. Why? Because if the DA and lawyer are guilty of what they are accused of then an Alabama state prison would be much better accommodations for their crimes. Federal prisons are much too nice for the likes of these swine.
If I hear from Denise Coleman today I will ask permission to post her side of the story.
