By The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM — An assistant district attorney for Coosa County and a Gadsden lawyer have been arrested on charges of extortion and bribery in an alleged scheme to get a $5 million payoff in return for keeping a man from being indicted in a 1995 murder case.
The state attorney general's office said Thursday authorities arrested Frank Selman Teel of Sylacauga, who is an assistant district attorney in Coosa County, and Gadsden attorney Frank Wayne Bailey, after the two got a check for $1 million.
Teel, 59, and Bailey, 58, were arrested Wednesday night and released Thursday afternoon from the Etowah County Jail on $10,000 bond each, jail officials said.
Gadsden attorney Morgan Cunningham said he and his father, Eddie Cunningham, would be representing Bailey. He said they worked Thursday mostly on getting their client released from jail and did not have enough information about the charges to comment.
Sylacauga attorney Rod Giddens said he expects he will represent Teel, but has not been officially hired.
A statement from Attorney General Troy King's office said the two are accused of seeking $5 million from Carl Weaver, who could face a capital murder charge in a 1995 killing. The statement did not provide details on the murder case.
It said the two used the threat of indictment to force Weaver to pay a multimillion-dollar settlement of a civil lawsuit stemming from the case, or alternatively sought $5 million to have the county prosecutor use his official position to prevent Weaver's indictment.
The statement said they used threats to obtain the $1 million belonging to Weaver or Jay Stover, an attorney for Weaver.
Weaver could not immediately be reached for comment. Stover did not immediately return a call to his office. Link
