May 18, 2013
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Former State Senator John Doug Hays is
working at a courthouse after years of fighting federal mail fraud
charges.
Hays has been appointed Pike County deputy judge-executive
by his political mentor Wayne T. Rutherford.
Rutherford was elected to his fifth term as judge-executive after a lengthy absence.
Hays and his wife Brenda faced jail time for nearly two years
after a 2004 mail fraud conviction stemming from a Pike County
judicial race.
The jury acquitted the couple of vote fraud charges but found
that they mailed false campaign finance reports involving "straw"
contributions supplied a wealthy Pikeville political fund-raiser.
Hays and his wife were sentenced to six months and four months
in prison, respectively.
Prosecutors subsequently asked that the Hayses' convictions and
indictments be dismissed.
