Garmley: Knew “Cochran would do something”

Published 11:51 pm Monday, December 8, 2014

ROME — On Easter Sunday 2012, Angela Garmley said she was physically assaulted by three people. The next day, April 9, she said she went to Murray County Magistrate Court to speak with then-Judge Bryant Cochran about getting arrest warrants for her attackers. However, he was not interested in her case, he was simply interested in her, Garmley testified in federal court here on Monday.

“He said if I gave him what he wanted, I’d get what I wanted” — justice against the people who attacked her, Garmley said.

Garmley took the witness stand to tell her side of the story regarding sexual advancements she said were made by Cochran, as well as her August 2012 arrest for possession of meth, which prosecutors say Cochran orchestrated.

Cochran is on trial for conspiracy to plant drugs on Garmley’s car after she went public saying Cochran sexually propositioned her and asked her to be his mistress. He is also accused of sexually assaulting a county employee, illegally searching cellphones of county employees and tampering with a witness. Cochran was indicted on charges of conspiracy against rights, three counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and tampering with a witness.

Garmley said the two exchanged phone numbers and she was to come back later that week wearing only a dress with no panties at Cochran’s request. After several sexually charged text messages and phone calls between the two, Garmley said she pulled into the courthouse parking lot but left because she couldn’t go through with it.

Garmley’s car was pulled over on Aug. 14, 2012, by then-Murray County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Joshua Greeson. Then-Capt. Mike Henderson, Cochran’s cousin, also responded, and the two found five packets of meth in a metal tin under Garmley’s car after getting a call from Cochran saying there would be meth there, according to prosecutors. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined the drugs were planted. Charges against Garmley were dropped and Greeson and Henderson were fired. Both pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after admitting to lying to GBI agents about the drug tip.

Clifford Joyce, a tenant of and handyman for Cochran, pleaded guilty to planting the meth under Garmley’s car.

Garmley testified she received multiple text messages from Cochran in April 2012 asking her sexual questions and outlining plans to meet up for sex in exchange for a good ruling on her case in Magistrate Court against those who she said attacked her. However, Page Pate, the attorney for Cochran, had one question: “Where are these texts?” he asked Garmley several times.

Garmley replied that she had deleted all of them.

Pate questioned Garmley about why she deleted the text messages, and why she waited until July 2012 to make complaints against Cochran. Garmley said she didn’t want to start anything until Cochran lied to her husband about what happened.

One text Garmley didn’t delete was a partially nude photo she sent to Cochran. Garmley said after she backed out of meeting Cochran for sex, he asked her to send him a nude photo because he wanted to see what he was going to get. Garmley said instead she sent him a partially nude photo of her in underwear and bra to keep him happy.

The prosecution called FBI agent Charles Mastotts, who said he ran a forensic examination on Cochran’s phone and detected that during the week of April 8-14, when the text messages supposedly took place, 113 text messages were deleted from Cochran’s phone. However, the content of those messages could not be recovered. Pate pointed out that Mastotts’ analysis could not specify whether those messages had been sent by Cochran or whether they were sent to Cochran.

Cochran and Garmley never met for sex, Garmley said. Garmley was ultimately unhappy that the people she said attacked her were not prosecuted. Garmley said Cochran did not give her the opportunity to tell her side of the attack.

After the hearing, Garmley said she didn’t have contact with Cochran again until July 2012 when her husband Joe came home accusing her of sexually propositioning Cochran. Angela Garmley said her husband was at Magistrate Court when Cochran came up to him and told him she went into his office and pulled up her dress.

Through a series of text messages showed in court, Angela Garmley can be seen texting Cochran asking why he was lying to her husband. Cochran replied back, “Call me.”

Garmley stated that Cochran said her husband was lying and that Joe Garmley was simply trying to catch her doing something wrong. The two were in the middle of a divorce, Angela Garmley said.

She testified that throughout the next couple of weeks she saved all text messages between herself and Cochran, trying to catch him admitting what he had done so she could clear her name to her husband.

Garmley said during that time, Cochran was getting worried about how angry Joe Garmley was and asked her to calm him down. According to Angela Garmley, Cochran asked her to meet him. She said she took this opportunity, hoping to record their conversation on her phone. When they met at Spring Place Elementary School, but before they began talking, Cochran said “no phones” and made her leave her phone in her car.

Garmley was able to record a later phone conversation on July 17, 2012. In that recording Cochran can be heard asking Garmley if she deleted all the text messages and if Joe Garmley had seen any of them.

“That is the only thing that can come back and bite either one of us in the tail,” Cochran said.

In another phone conversation after the meeting, Angela Garmley said Cochran called her to get their stories straight and to claim the reason they had been having so many conversations was because Angela and Joe Garmley were getting divorced and she was afraid of her husband. Angela Garmley said she agreed to the story, hoping to trick Cochran into thinking she was on his side and gain his trust.

Pate argued that Cochran had no knowledge that his text messages were being saved and their phone calls were being recorded and yet he still never admitted any wrongdoing. The prosecution rebutted that Cochran was already getting suspicious, proven by the fact he told Garmley “no phones” when they met at Spring Place Elementary.

Conversation ended between the two when an investigation of Cochran was begun by the Judicial Qualifications Commission after Joe Garmley reported Cochran’s behavior to the commission in July 2012.

Angela Garmley’s history of drug use came up in court and she testified that in July and August of 2012 she was using meth. She admitted to doing meth five to10 times in July and August. She admitted to being involved with the manufacturing of meth in 2011, buying Sudafed for the people who attacked her on Easter 2012.

The prosecution asked Garmley where she kept her meth and she said either in her bra or her sunglasses holder by her sun visor in her car.

But on Aug. 14, 2012, meth wasn’t found in her bra or in her sunglasses holder, it was found in a metal tin underneath her car. Garmley said Joyce came to her trailer on Aug. 11 at about 2 a.m. and was acting strange and pacing around her living room. He left out her back window near where her car was. She said she immediately became suspicious and searched her trailer to see if he had planted something. Nothing was found.

The night of Aug. 14, 2012, Garmley said friends gave her $80 to buy meth and she did. Then she and her friends went to a trailer and smoked the meth. She also took two white anxiety pills that a man gave her. Garmley said she could not drive home because of the drugs so her friend agreed to drive her home in her white Dodge Challenger. That is when they were pulled over for having the car’s bright lights on.

Greeson asked to search her car and she gave consent. That is when the meth under the car was found. Garmley said she knew Cochran was behind it.

“I was told by several people that Cochran would do something,” she said.

Pate pointed out to Garmley that she lied to police when they asked if she was on anything that night and she told them no. He also said she lied when she told police Joyce came to her house but she never let him inside. Garmley admitted to both of the lies, replying that she was scared to tell the truth.

Garmley was arrested again in September of this year, this time for sale of meth. Both the prosecution and defense had Garmley state that she did not expect any leniency or plea deal in that case stemming from her testifying in the federal case against Cochran.

The trial will continue today. The prosecution is expected to finish its case today and then the defense will present its case.