VERDICT IN

3:45 p.m.

There is a verdict in the Ed Ford trial. It will take a little while for everyone to convene in the courtroom and the verdict to be announced.

3:55 p.m.

NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS.

Edmund Ford is crying as are his family members.

This is the first loss for prosecutors in the recent public corruption sting.

4:06 p.m.

Ed Ford smiled at jurors as they left the jury box.

Edmund Ford has another federal trial set for August. This involves Joseph Lee and charges Lee gave Ford preferential treatment at MLGW in return for his backing on the Memphis City Council. That trial is set for August 4.

4:08 p.m.

Ed Ford just told me, “Feed good. I feel good. My God is good”

Outside the courthouse, Edmund Ford told me he said he was innocent and now a jury found him innocent. Ford thanked God and thanked his family for their support. Ford’s attorney Mike Scholl said the government simply did not prove its case and that it relied on a “liar,” meaning Joe Cooper. Scholl says he will begin working on his defense for Ford’s August trial tonight. In an “only in Memphis moment” Joseph Lee, the co-defendant in that case walked up just as Ford’s press conference was ending. A few minutes later, Lee and Ford hugged. Lee sat in the front row one day during Ford’s trial.