Disgraced Businessman Wants Sentence Set Aside

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A Mississippi businessman has asked a federal judge to vacate his five-year prison sentence on a conviction of defrauding a biofuels subsidy program.

William T. “Tommy” Tacker II was convicted in 2010 on 10 counts that he conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture of nearly $3 million for his company, Biodiesel of Mississippi Inc. of Nettleton.

Tacker appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but lost in July 2011.

He asked a federal judge on Monday to throw out the sentence based on the argument that his lawyers didn’t review vital evidence and failed to seek out witnesses to testify on his behalf at trial.

Among other arguments, he claims to have acalculia, a difficulty performing math that hindered his ability to run the company.