A woman indicted March 19 in Oklahoma City’s Western District federal court on two counts of theft of public money during the COVID-19 pandemic was acquitted by a jury at the conclusion of a two-day trial recently.
Lisa Beth Cornish, 52, was accused of embezzling almost $21,000 over a 12-month period: between June 12, 2020, and June 28, 2021.
One charge accused her of illegally receiving federal pandemic unemployment compensation payments, pandemic emergency unemployment compensation payments and lost wages assistance payments totaling $18,533 from the U.S. Department of Labor from June 12, 2020, through April 19, 2021.
The other charge alleged that between April 26, 2021, and June 28, 2021, Cornish lied in order to receive $2,400 in federal pandemic unemployment compensation payments that she “knew she was not entitled to…” Cornish had a full-time job but applied for federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation for a parttime job she lost, her lawyer indicated. “She was under the impression she could apply for compensation for the part-time job,” said Ronald Jones II of Oklahoma City, her defense attorney. “It was a comedy of errors.”
The State of Oklahoma “took two years to contact her about this matter, and then almost two years later she was indicted – without the government ever having interviewed her to provide an explanation,” Jones told Southwest Ledger.
“Cases like this tend to show jurors how much prison can derail someone’s life,” he said.
Cornish” lost her job as an Oklahoma County sheriff’s deputy, had to pay legal fees, had to get a lower-paying job, and had just moved into her new home” in Moore when she was charged by the federal government with two felony crimes, “and lived daily with the fear of being convicted and sentenced to prison,” Jones said..
“I don’t understand why prosecutors didn’t contact Ms. Cornish and get her side of the story before they filed the indictment. In fact, why did they indict her instead of filing a civil case for reimbursement of that money?” Jones mused. “When you’re a hammer, everything is a nail.”
Jury selection took three and one-half hours on Sept. 9, a court document reflects. Afterward, the judge and jury heard three hours and 45 minutes of testimony before adjourning for the day.
On Sept. 10 the jury heard another two hours and 50 minutes of testimony, retired to deliberate, and exonerated Cornish on both counts.
Jones was born and reared in Hugo; moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he graduated from law school in 2015; then returned to Oklahoma because of his mother’s health.
He’s batting .500 in federal court: he lost his first case but won the Cornish case.
National statistics from the Pew Research Center show that of the 71,954 federal jury trials in Fiscal Year 2022, there were only 290 acquittals. In federal criminal cases only 4% of all jury trials result in a 'not guilty' verdict.
Cornish subsequently was restored to her job in the Sheriff’s Department, and Jones said his mother’s health has improved.