Excerpt from Outdoor Wire article.
One of the topics that dominated every conversation -at least the ones I heard- was far away from the miles of aisles here in Las Vegas. Many of the industry’s eyes are still focused on the New York Supreme Courthouse in lower Manhattan where the case of the State of New York versus the National Rifle Association continues.
Last Thursday, former heir-apparent to Wayne LaPierre, Chris Cox told the jurors he ultimately had no choice but to leave the organization after he became aware of the “disgusting” financial abuses of LaPierre. Those abuses, Cox said, extended to the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) which he headed. Cox told the courtroom that when he asked to see the expenses LaPierre was running through the NRA-ILA, he wasn’t just denied, he was told “Nobody sees those.”
Despite the growing litany of financial question marks, from the payments and a “toxic relationship” with service supplier Ackerman McQueen, Cox claimed the final straw that led to his leaving in 2019 was learning about the $250,000 in luxury clothing LaPierre had billed to the NRA.
“I was floored,” Cox told jurors, “I was extremely disgusted.” To the point, he said, he drafted a resignation letter that morning.
But before he could leave on his own, he was placed on administrative leave, accused of attempting to “a coup” against LaPierre. Cox told the court he was “so pissed off” by the accusation, primarily because “I never had any intention of running against Wayne LaPierre. It was absurd.”
Surprise, it seems, isn’t in short supply in this trial.
Friday afternoon, word of a filing by the LaPierre defense team that claims, among other things, that LaPierre’s medical condition has caused a “significant deterioration” of the physical size of his brain, mental fogginess, severe headaches, fatigue and eye pain that will “likely impact his abilities to testify for extended periods each day.”
In response, LaPierre’s defense counsel has asked the trial judge for a “reasonable accommodation” allowing LaPierre flexibility in testifying.
He is -or was- expected to begin what was originally anticipated to be lengthy testimony later this week.
A letter from LaPierre’s physician to the NRA’s Charles Cotton on January 3 was introduced in the motion. In that letter, the doctor says “Mr. LaPierre’s health as been slowly deteriorating these last few years. In August 2022, he had worsening headaches and and a CT Head was done, with demonstrated significant cerebral volume loss and chronic small vessel ischemic changes.”
Those, Dr. Pappas concluded, lead to significant pain and discomfort.
All this leads to couple of simple questions. First, how is it possible for this trial to continue for the original six weeks anticipated? There’s not a lot of defense being mounted at this point, and virtually all testimony has affirmed, not refuted, the alleged pattern of bad conduct by senior officials.
Which leads to a more focused question: is the LaPierre defense tossing a Hail Mary with the failing health disclosure?
What looked like an advanced accounting course for not-for-profits when it opened, this case is looking more like the final episodes of a soap opera by the day.
Whatever, we’ll keep you posted- even if it’s from a distance.
— Jim Shepherd
www.businessinsider.com
