Mistrial Declared For Governor's Former Son-In-Law

[Divernan]

Source: CBS-Philly

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A jury in Philadelphia could not reach a verdict on theft charges against Gov. Tom Corbett’s ex-son-in-law.

Authorities say the 44-year-old took bait money from a vehicle during an FBI sting on Jan. 31, 2013. Gibson, then a narcotics officer, had been told the car belonged to a suspect.

His attorney argued at trial that Gibson planned to turn in the money at the end of shift, but was confronted by investigators before he could do so.

A judge declared a mistrial Friday after jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on counts of theft, obstruction and receiving stolen property.



Read more: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/09/19/mistrial-declared-for-governors-former-son-in-law/

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The Judge set a new trial date for January 26th and the prosecutors have stated they WILL retry him. He was a narcotics officer; the governor's daughter, Katherine was and is a deputy attorney general for state's AG office, and was appointed to that position by the woman whom Corbett had appointed head of the Attorney General's office. She has remained with the AG's office after a Democrat was elected AG, and is most recently (August 25, 2014) reported as working on the Attorney General's Drug Strike Force Section. workinghttp://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=8075

I've been wondering what happened to Gibson. He was caught by the FBI in a joint sting operation with the internal affairs unit of the Phillie police dept. back in January of 2013, suspended in February by the PD, and ordered to trial in August of 2013. News coverage currently refers to Kate Corbett Gibson as Gibson's ex-wife, or subsequently divorced, but I have found no report of a divorce per se.

Here's some background:

An FBI agent has testified that former officer Gerald Gibson, the son-in-law of Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett, took $140 in marked money from the bait car but didn’t turned it over until confronted later by the FBI agent and Philadelphia police investigators (see related story).

Defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr. concedes that Gibson, who was sent out on another assignment before he was questioned about the money, violated policy by not turning in the money in right away, but says his client is innocent of any serious crime.

“No intent to steal,” says Peruto. “There was absolutely no intention here. There’s been no evidence that he intended to leave his shift that day without doing this paperwork. And you heard the testimony of the sergeant: many officers do their paperwork on all their jobs at the end of the day.”

When Gibson was arrested and subsequently fired earlier this year, police said he had been targeted for the sting because of suspicions that he was taking money and other items from crime scenes.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/08/13/trial-ordered-for-former-philly-cop-son-in-law-of-gov-corbett/f See also: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2013/02/02/Sting-followed-many-suspicions-about-honesty-of-Corbett-in-law/stories/201302020264

2 comments: first, the wheels of justice turn awfully damn slow in systems bogged down by massive numbers of criminal laws (the reason the US leads the world in percentages of citizens incarcerated). Guess if you're going to privatize the prisons for profits, the next step would be to privatize the judiciary. Wonder if that's on the One Percent's agenda.

Second, sounds like the FBI screwed the pooch in arresting the guy before the end of his shift. All they needed to do was wait until he'd turned in his paperwork for the day. Then he'd either have turned in the money or not.