Legal Battle Continues Over Late Judge's Will

Legal Battle Continues Over Late Judge's Will


Updated: Tuesday, 13 Dec 2011, 5:58 PM CST

Published : Tuesday, 13 Dec 2011, 2:35 PM CST

Memphis, Tn - Alone, handcuffed and slumping in a perfunctory orange jail jumpsuit Memphis Fire Department Battalion Chief Sandra Richards waited in Shelby County Criminal court for her attorney Leslie Ballin.

"She looks like a defeated woman. She looks pretty pitiful. I would assume she's feeling the impact of being incarcerated," said Ballin.

Brenda Oates-Williams, who is filing the civil suit against Richards, sees it differently, "I don't believe she's capable of remorse. I think she's a sociopath. I think she's capable of doing anything and she thinks she's big and bad enough to do and get away with it and she's done this for quite a while."

Somewhere in between those disparate descriptions is a moralistic tale of the rewards and pitfalls of a woman's "blind ambition."

Richards, the former girlfriend of the late Tennessee State Representative Ulysses Jones, remained in custody on Tuesday after being charged last Friday with forgery and aggravated perjury.

In May, Probate Judge Robert Benham ruled Richards forged a will that would have left her all of Jones' 100-thousand dollar estate instead of his children.

"This document was only made for me to be the executor and of course the children know who I am and they know I would have done right by them. It was never meant to exclude, close out. It was meant for me to be in charge," claimed Richards.

Also facing the same charges in the case are Battalion Chief Beverly Prye and firefighter/paramedic Avis Langford Brannon alleged to have co-signed the phony will. But, while Prye and Langford Brannon are free on 20-thousand dollar bonds, Richards bond was unexpectedly revoked. A bail review before Judge Otis Higgs is now slated for Thursday.

"Unusual that the prosecutor would ask for a review of a bond that the prosecutor recommended in the beginning and that is that the bond is 20-thousand dollars is set at the recommendation of the state," said Ballin. "I'm advised that they are asking for a review based on information that they have received in regard to the timelines of her surrendering on this.

An interested spectator at the hearing was attorney Brenda Oates-Williams who successfully represented Jones' children in probate court and now is representing them in civil suits again Richards, Prye, Langford Brannon and four others.

Scoffing at Richards' not guilty plea, Oates-Williams had some stern advice for the judge, "I just hope the judge realizes that she's a flight risk. And if he does give her bond, I hope it's substantial enough that she won't be able to make it and she stay in jail, because she is a danger and a threat to society."


Please read complete article and view video at link below:


http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/legal-battle-continues-over-late-judge's-will-rpt-20111213

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