A few of the remaining stalwarts of the civil rights movement pleaded with a federal judge Wednesday to show compassion for one of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s foot soldiers and to sentence Tyrone Brooks to probation so he can continue the work he has done for decades.
Also speaking on Brooks' behalf in the third day of a sentencing hearing was a one-time legal adversary, former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers who asked U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg to sentence the former state legislator to probation — not prison -- for tax, mail and wire fraud.
“I’m here, asking for mercy for an old man, Mr. Brooks,” Bowers said. “Has he done wrong? Yes. Has he done good? Yes. He has done an awful, awful lot of good. He has a lot of good he can still do.”
A day after he resigned the legislative seat he held for almost 35 years, Brooks, now 70, pleaded guilty in April to one count of federal tax fraud and no contest to five counts of wire and mail fraud. He was convicted of diverting to his personal bank account almost $1 million in contributions to organizations he headed from a labor union and four major companies.
Prosecutors want Brooks sentenced to two years in prison while his lawyers, including former Gov. Roy Barnes, are asking the judge to consider his work for civil rights and sentence him to probation.
The sentencing hearing is expected to conclude on Friday with Brooks being the final witness. Totenberg said she hopes to announce her sentencing decision then but it depends on how long Brooks speaks and how long lawyers take with two remaining witnesses and their closing arguments.
Among those speaking on his behalf Wednesday were three recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Rev. C.T. Vivian was the first to speak Wednesday and the Rev. Joseph Lowery delivered his comments to the judge via video to end the day of testimony. Former Ambassador Andy Young also stood for his friend from King’s movement.
“Tyrone has been a great public servant,” Lowery said on the video. “He’s made some serious and foolish mistakes. The court would serve the community well by being merciful… I urge her to reach down in her heart and find the quality of mercy. He has been so forceful and concerned about the poor, he deserves all the consideration we can give him.”
For more than 15 years, Brooks used his reputation as a civil rights leader with great influence to personally solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But then those funds he personally solicited were moved to a personal account and used to pay utilities at his home, for car repairs, his wife’s credit card bills, and other personal expenses. None of that money went to any of those programs.
He repeatedly asked the Teamsters, Coca-Cola Co., Georgia Power Co., Georgia Pacific Co. and Northside Hospital for donations for Universal Humanities, a sham charity, to use for a program to address illiteracy, Visions of Literacy. When he was president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, Brooks also solicited donations for GABEO's voter education programs and efforts to address violence in the black community.
Young gave a history of the demonstrations and the operations of King’s movement and stressed that there was little money and little accounting of it. Brooks, who started with King when he was 15, didn’t learn the importance of tracking spending and accounting for it.
Young repeated what others had said when asked about Brooks’ “he’s guilty of sloppy paperwork. I’ve never seen him guilty of greed…”
Vivian said Brooks was misguided in the use of the money and added. “There was no decision to cheat. … We would ask you to act in such a way so his work can continue.”
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