United States Attorney Leura G. Canary Middle District of Alabama

CARMICHAEL CENTER PROMOTER SENTENCED TO 30 MONTHS FOR PERJURY IN RELATION TO LEON CARMICHAEL TRIAL

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA— Leura G. Canary, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, announced that on April 20, 2007, Sherry Pettis, 51, of Montgomery was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for perjury. Ms. Pettis pled guilty earlier this year to perjuring herself during the case of United States v. Leon Carmichael, Sr..

During the investigation of Leon Carmichael, Sr., Pettis testified under oath in front of a federal grand jury. Pettis told the grand jury that she opened a bank account in her name at Carmichael’s direction. Carmichael gave her thousands of dollars in cash to deposit into this bank account. Pettis further told the grand jury that she believed that the cash Carmichael gave her was drug money. In June of 2005, Pettis testified under oath in the trial of United States v. Leon Carmichael, Sr. During the trial, Pettis changed her grand jury testimony and told the Carmichael jury that she did not believe that the cash Carmichael had her deposit in the bank account was drug money. Because her testimony at the Carmichael trial was in direct conflict with her original testimony in front of the grand jury, she was charged with and pled guilty to perjury.

The prosecution of this case, from arrest through sentencing, relied on the hard work and diligence of a number of state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney A. Clark Morris