KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Lawyers for former Sevier County deputy clerk Brandy Thornton argued Monday her three counts should be split into two different trials.
Federal prosecutors charged Thornton with accepting bribes in exchange for titling cars.
The attorneys' arguments centered around the people they said she accepted bribes from.
The first count of the indictment charged Thornton with conspiracy to accept cash payments and food from Juan Jose Lopez Gallardo, a man separately charged with bringing stolen cars to East Tennessee and dealing drugs.
The second and third counts involved James Hickman. Court documents said he was a confidential source for the government and bribed Thornton to create titles for "fictitious, not stolen" cars. Prosecutors said in court these two counts involved "substantive acts," and not an overall conspiracy like the first count.
However, the prosecutor said Thornton should be tried for all three counts together because they are all related.
Thornton's lawyers also brought a motion to try Brandy Thornton separately from Roberta Webb-Allen, another former deputy clerk charged with two counts of accepting cash payments in exchange for official acts.
On Friday, court documents showed Webb-Allen agreed to plead guilty in exchange for having most of her charges dropped. Prosecutors and Thornton's defense lawyers said the agreement made the motion to separate the two deputy clerks moot.
RELATED: Former Sevier Co. deputy clerk takes plea deal in conspiracy to title stolen vehicles for bribes
Webb-Allen accepted an agreement to plead guilty to a single charge: conspiracy to accept bribes in exchange for creating titles for cars.
In the plea agreement, Webb-Allen said she and Thornton accepted cash from other people to title and register vehicles in Tennessee.
The agreement said in one instance Webb-Allen and Gallardo were heard over a wiretap discussing car titles in Tennessee. In exchange, the document said Gallardo instructed someone to pay Webb-Allen $100.
The plea agreement said Thornton asked Webb-Allen to register and title vehicles for Gallardo in exchange for cash payments.