CANTON, Miss.–It’s a new title for former 12-year Canton alderman Louis Smith: Convicted Felon. It took a jury about three and a half hours Thursday to bring back the guilty verdict after they heard two days of testimony. It seems the FBI had Smith dead to rights.
It was video and audio recordings of Smith taking stacks of $100 bills that probably got him convicted. The exchanges were made in Saab Park, just north of the Canton square.
Affiliate WMGO reporter Jerry Lousteau was covering the trial both days and said Smith’s defense was that the stacks of cash were actually loans. But, there was no evidence to prove that.
Smith was arrested last year, just as he was learning that he had lost re-election.
His arrest came when several instances of voter fraud and intimidation unrelated to his arrest were going down, and many assumed that the cuffs being put on Smith, who was at city hall, had something to do with that.
Sentencing is set for July 17 and it could mean 10 years behind bars and/or a $250,000 fine. Until then, he’s out on bail.
