08 Mar Statement By Milton McGregor
On Wednesday, March 7, 2012, Milton McGregor was found not guilty on all counts by the unanimous vote of a jury in the Middle District of Alabama federal court. The following is the statement he released after the verdict:
This is a day for thanksgiving – maybe Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. Through this, we’ve been sustained by family, friends, and faith.
Since they were babies, I’ve told our girls they have the best momma in the whole world. I’ll never know how this beautiful, graceful, intelligent, strong Christian woman has put up with me. But I do know this: I’ve been blessed in more ways than I could ever count, but Pat is the greatest blessing of all — by far.
Our family says “thank you” to the many friends who stood with us and prayed for us. Pat always reminds me that God does not give us more than we can handle. In addition to the gift of Grace, we know more than ever that He also gives us friends to help us in times like this.
We deeply appreciate the jurors in both trials. We will be eternally grateful for their personal sacrifice and extraordinary courage. Because of them, the system works.
I want to express my friendship and admiration for the other defendants, their families, and their attorneys. The war we fought together strengthened old friendships and forged new ones. We still grieve the passing of Ray Crosby, a good and honest man. Ray is in a better place, but we’re sorry he’s not here to celebrate this day of vindication.
The true professionals on this legal team have gone far beyond the call of duty for almost two years. Joe Espy has many accomplishments, but keeping me quiet this long may be his greatest one. Joe’s our quarterback, but the whole team is great: Bobby Segall, Walter McGowan, Sam Heldman, Ben and Bill Espy, Shannon Holliday, David Martin, Ashley Penhale, Clayton Tartt, and, my friend of 30 years, Fred Gray. These lawyers and the people in their firms are simply the best. I can never thank them enough.
I’m not going to say a lot about the case today, but I will say this. I love my country. But I despise what my government has done to me and the other defendants. The government lawyers and investigators say they represent the United States, but they trampled on the constitution they’re sworn to defend. They’re paid by the Justice Department, but they showed no sense of justice or fairness. They’re in the Division of Public Integrity, but they showed none of that either, not even a little bit. The fact that they carried out this travesty in a courthouse named for a genuine hero makes what they did even more disgusting. They should learn from Frank Johnson that doing the right thing may not be popular or easy, and that doing the right thing sometimes means having the courage to speak truth to power.