By Associated Press
Decatur, AL – A federal judge is to consider a motion to dismiss fraud charges against a north Alabama legislator in a case stemming from the probe of two-year colleges.
The motion to dismiss is one of several that will be heard Thursday in Decatur by U.S. District Judge David Proctor at a pretrial hearing for state Rep. Sue Schmitz. Her trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 18.
The motion charges that prosecutors created bias when presenting the case to the grand jury by referring to Schmitz and witnesses in a sarcastic manner.
The 63-year-old Schmitz is a Democrat from Toney. She is accused of taking more than $177,000 in pay from a program affiliated with Alabama's two-year colleges despite doing hardly any work.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)