The Best Oscar for Original Song, “Hard Out Here for a Pimp”, could not have been more timely as the East St. Louis voter fraud, attempted murder and running of a prostitution ring out of City Hall sentencing continued on Friday.
Last month Kelvin Ellis was sentenced to four and a half years for scheming to buy votes in the November 2004 election. Ellis was also convicted of trying to have an unidentified witness killed. The witness had threatened to expose a prostitution ring Ellis was running out of City Hall.
Two more local democrats who helped federal investigators in the area’s largest voter fraud case in history found out on Friday that they will also be serving time in jail:
Lillie Nichols and Terrance Stith testified against some of the city Democratic Party’s most powerful players, helping federal prosecutors win the biggest vote fraud case in St. Clair County history last spring.
Nonetheless, a federal judge Friday sentenced Nichols, 52, and Stith, 44, each to four months in prison after their guilty pleas to aiding a vote-buying scheme.
In addition, U.S. District Judge David Herndon sentenced Stith’s wife, Sandra, to a year of probation for the same crime. Like her husband, Sandra Stith had cooperated with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty nearly a year ago…
…The defendants expressed remorse for their role in the vote-buying scheme, which centered on paying East St. Louis voters $5 and $10 each to cast ballots in November 2004 general election.
Nichols and Terrance Stith received tougher sentences than Sandra Stith because they occupied positions of trust as precinct committeemen, Herndon said.
At least 16 St. Louis area Democrats have been found guilty of election crimes since the election of 2004.
And, about that song… American Digest had few points on the best original song winner this year.
Hat Tip Larwyn
