Federal Criminal Defense Blog : Georgia Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Gillen Withers & Lake Law Firm : White Collar Crime, RICO, Trial : Atlanta, Savannah, GA

On Tuesday, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in Tuscaloosa found construction contractor Roger Taylor not guilty on one count of conspiracy, five counts of bribery and two counts of obstructing justice, according to Tuscaloosa News. Mr. Taylor was one of numerous individuals investigated in relation to Alabama's Community College System. Mr. Taylor, co-owner of Hall-Taylor Construction, and was alleged to have bribed former two-year college Chancellor Roy Johnson by paying for more than $92,000 in construction costs and appliances at Johnson’s home in Opelika, Alabama, in exchange for awards of construction management work within the system. The government alleged that Mr. Taylor  was awarded $4 million in no-bid state contracts from 2002 to 2006 in exchange for the alleged bribes.

Mr. Taylor's trial began on October 25. He  was originally charged with 17 counts, but the majority of these were dropped after a successful appeal by a co-defendant. At trial, however, the prosecution failed to present any testimony showing that Johnson alleged directed or threatened college presidents to hire Hall Taylor on contracts for a massive makeover of the college system. On the contrary, witnesses testified that another construction management firm received a fair share of the contracts. The witnesses at the trial also praised Hall-Taylor's work. Mr. Taylor's counsel made the trial into a referendum on Johnson's credibility. Johnson pled guilty to 14 charges of conspiracy, bribery, witness tampering and money laundering in January of 2008. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18.

17 individuals, including former state legislators, college presidents and the system chancellor, have either pled guilty or been found guilty by a jury as a result of the investigation. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama issued a statement that the prosecution believed it had presented sufficient evidence to find Mr. Taylor guilty of the bribery and obstruction charges, but that it respected the jury's verdict. The government has a companion civil forfeiture case against Hall-Taylor's assets. Mr. Taylor's counsel stated that the prosecution intimidated and threatened witnesses at the grand jury investigating Johnson, and have indicated that Mr. Taylor may seek recourse for the prosecution's actions.

In other positive Federal criminal news, Bill Belt, the former Sheriff of  Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, his wife, Tracy Belt, and his sister, Julie Bernard, were found not guilty of conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice last week by a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana after a trial which also began on October 25, according to Towntalk.com.

In 1988, Sheriff Belt allegedly contracted with Michael and Rae Johnson to install pay  telephones  for prisoners in Avoyelles Parish in a venture called Cajun Callers. Under the agreement, Cajun Callers would pay a monthly commission to the Sheriff's Office. The Johnsons made large amounts of money  from the venture, which they failed to pay taxes on. Johnson subsequently became a Louisiana  State Judge, but  was removed from the bench due to ethical violations relating to Cajun Callers. The government alleged that Sheriff Belt was paid kickbacks.

In 1990, Sheriff Belt's future wife began keeping the books for two companies She owned: Southern Louisiana Communications, which operated public pay phones; and Central Louisiana Communications, which operated phones in Louisiana parish jails.

Rae Johnson testified at trial that Tracy Belt would allegedly take money collected from the pay phones and deposit it and then write three checks in identical amounts--one of which was to her husband's tax account from which taxes were never paid. Johnson stated that she would allegedly cash one of the other checks and deliver the money to Mrs. Belt. Sheriff Belt's counsel undermined Johnson's account of the triple-check scheme on cross-examination, however. Counsel argued in closing that Johnson was a liar who escaped prosecution herself by making up stories about the Belts. The government also presented the testimony of a convicted male pedophile who installed the Cajun Callers phones in the jails, and another convicted felon who served time for crimes including insurance fraud.

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Very balanced pre-trial coverage and background of the U.S. Senate trial of Federal Judge Thomas Porteous can be found on Newsy.com, courtesy of a reader.

As reported at NOLA.com, during Judge Porteous' trial last week, the 12 member Senate committee heard testimony regarding allegations that a bonding company, Bail Bonds Unlimited, provided free vehicle repairs, buckets of shrimp and bottles of vodka to Judge Porteous while he was a State judge in Jefferson Parish Louisiana. Judge Porteous is alleged to have performed favors for the bonding company in return. Members of the House of Representatives serving as prosecutors also presented evidence that Judge Porteous allegedly omitted assets and gambling debts from bankruptcy filings, and used the false name "G.T. Ortous" in the filing.

There was also testimony that Judge Porteous asked Jefferson Parish attorney Jacob Amato in 1999 to help defray part of the cost of Judge Porteous' son's wedding at the same time that Judge Porteous was presiding over a multi-million dollar legal dispute between Lifemark Hospitals and Liljeberg Enterprises, in which Amato represented Liljeberg. Amato was alleged to have put $2,000 in an envelope for Judge Porteous' secretary.

Judge Porteous' attorneys argued that the bankruptcy false name was intended to prevent embarrassing publicity, and presented expert testimony that the omissions from the filings were not unusual. They also presented a Loyola University Law School Professor, who testified that, until last year, Louisiana's rules on gifts and meals for judges were fairly vague, and that State judges regularly received lunches and holiday gifts from lawyers practicing before them. Evidence was also presented that Lifemark retained attorney Donald Gardner in its dispute with Liljeberg for $100,000 solely based on Gardner's familiarity with the Judge. Gardner kicked back $30,000 of the fee to the attorney who recruited him. Judge Porteous' counsel argued to the committee that the allegations against Judge Porteous are not the sort of conduct which the Founding Fathers intended impeachment for--treason and high crimes and misdemeanors. Counsel emphasized that Judge Porteous was never charged with any crime relating to the alleged conduct, and that most of the conduct occurred before he was appointed to the Federal Bench.

The committee consists of six Democrats and six Republicans. The full Senate will determine whether Judge Porteous will be impeached during its lame duck session in November. If the Senate votes in favor of impeachment, Judge Porteous will become the eighth Federal judge to be removed from office in U.S. history.

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We have commented on the case of Alfredo and Niurka Rasco of South Georgia, who were charged in a $6.5 million Medicare fraud scheme. Well, despite a heated and well-founded defense against the charges based upon illegal use of immunized evidence by the government, Mr. Rasco and his wife pled guilty to the charges against them last week during their trial, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Rasco face maximum terms of imprisonment of 12 years and 6 months respectively.

In other news, the U.S. Senate will convene next week to hold an impeachment trial of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr., of the Eastern District of Louisiana according to the National Law Journal. Judge Porteous is charged with corruption. Specifically, Judge Porteous is charged with accepting meals, trips and other gifts from bail bondsman Louis Marcotte III and his sister Lori Marcotte in return for giving the Marcottes and their clients special treatment while he was a state court judge. Judge Porteous is also alleged to have made false statements to the Senate and to the FBI in 1994 regarding his past.

Judge Porteous' attorneys are vigorously defending him, however, pointing out that much of the conduct charged against Judge Porteous occurred prior to his appointment to the bench. Furthermore, a federal grand jury had investigated Judge Porteous as part of wide-ranging probe into Louisiana corruption, however no charges resulted. The U.S. Department of Justice also decided to drop the case against Judge Porteous. Judge Porteous' attorneys have denied any wrongdoing by Porteous, and state that he has done nothing to justify his removal from office.  The defense also contends that the FBI and the Senate were aware of the allegations against Judge Porteous prior to voting to confirm his appointment.

A fascinating fact is that Congress is also the nation's least used court. The trial of Judge Porteous will be the Senate's first since the impeachment trial of President William Jefferson Clinton (who appointed Judge Porteous to the bench) in 1999, and the first of a federal judge since 1989. The U.S. House of Representatives has considered bringing impeachment proceedings against federal judges in the interim, but the judges had resigned before the proceedings could be brought. Judge Porteous was referred to the Senate for impeachment by the Judicial Conference of the United States, led by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., in June of 2008. A committee of 12 senators will serve as both judges and jurors at his trial. Members of the House will serve as prosecutors, or "managers." The Senators will vote on whether to convict Judge Porteous, with a two-thirds majority required to convict. Any of the Senators may question witnesses following examination and cross-examination by counsel. The Senate Committee will first gather evidence for consideration by the full Senate. Each side will have 20 hours to put on evidence. The Senate can only vote to impeach Judge Porteous, and cannot impose any sentence of imprisonment or fine. The trial will take place in the same chamber the Senate uses for confirmation hearings.

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