Here are a few of many articles published in the trial's first five weeks.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/06/alabama_bingo_trial_revolves_a.html
Alabama bingo trial revolves around greed, US says
By Kim Chandler, The Birmingham News - June 11, 2011
MONTGOMERY -- VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor is a wealthy man, but he got greedy and bribed state legislators in the hopes of making hundreds of millions more dollars for himself, a federal prosecutor told jurors Friday.
Justin V. Shur told jurors in opening statements of the highly anticipated corruption trial that McGregor and the other defendants bought and sold State House votes in exchange for campaign contributions and business opportunities.
But defense lawyers contended the government's own wiretaps will show there were no bribes. The prosecution's case is built upon the testimony of "two crooks" and "three amigos" -- two men who have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify, and three legislators who wore wires to capture conversations with colleagues at the State House, said Joe Espy, attorney for McGregor.
McGregor; Sen. Harri Anne Smith, I-Slocomb; Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery; former Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla; former Sen. Jim Preuitt, R-Talladega; County Crossing casino spokesman Jay Walker; former legislative employee Ray Crosby and two of Montgomery's most influential lobbyists -- Tom Coker and Bob Geddie -- are being tried on charges of buying and selling votes for a gambling bill last year.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers in their opening statements painted contrasting pictures of the defendants and campaign contributions at the heart of the case.
The defendants alternately were described as greedy criminals and honest, upstanding business people. What prosecutors told jurors were bribes and conspiracy, defense lawyers described as legal campaign contributions and legitimate political maneuvering.
Prosecutors told jurors the case is simple. It's about selling votes, said Shur, deputy chief of the Justice Department's public integrity section.
"This case is not about gambling. It's certainly not about politics," Shur told jurors. "This case is about two things. It's about corruption. It's about greed."
Shur said that, in 2010, McGregor stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars from electronic bingo machines. But McGregor was desperate and turned to bribes, Shur said, because he was three votes short of what he needed in the Alabama Senate to pass a bill that could have let him keep the gambling machines at his VictoryLand casino.
The bill would have held a statewide referendum on allowing the machines at casinos owned by McGregor and a few others.
At the time, Gov. Bob Riley had launched a campaign to close down electronic bingo operations across the state, including VictoryLand.
"Milton McGregor was so desperate that he offered a legislator one million dollars for a single vote," Shur said.
'Hear the defendants'
Shur told jurors that, when prosecutors play recordings from telephone wiretaps, "You are going to hear the defendants commit these crimes in real time."
But he cautioned jurors that they won't hear the defendants say, "Sir, I'm offering you a bribe." That's not how people talk, he said. But he told jurors the meaning of the conversations should be clear.
Espy told jurors there's a reason there are no explicit offers on the tapes.
"There are no bribes on any tapes, because there ain't any bribes," Espy said, his voice rising with emotion.
While Shur's opening was direct and professorial, Espy made a fiery and impassioned plea to jurors.
"This man did not bribe anyone. This is an honest man," Espy said of McGregor.
Country Crossing owner Ronnie Gilley and Gilley lobbyist Jarrod Massey will be two key witnesses for the prosecution. Gilley and Massey originally were defendants in the case but pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Defense lawyers suggested Massey and Gilley were behind any wrongdoing and now would say anything to whittle their prison sentences.
"It's Ronnie Gilley and Jarrod Massey that are responsible for this mess," said Susan James, a lawyer representing Walker.
Shur told the jury that Smith, Preuitt and Means initially were opponents of the gambling bill but changed their votes after getting hefty contributions, or promises of contributions, from Gilley or McGregor.
Smith at times shook her head no as prosecutors said she received half a million dollars in contributions from Gilley for her vote.
Defense lawyers told jurors that the senators voted for the bill because it would let people decide whether the gambling machines should be legal.
Smith attorney William White said the tapes will show Smith did not do what prosecutors claim.
"Thank God for the tapes. Thank God for the tapes," White told jurors.
Ross lawyer H. Lewis Gillis told jurors it would have been a waste of cash to buy Ross' vote because he had supported the gambling legislation for years. Gillis said Ross' innocent fundraising calls were being distorted and mischaracterized by the government.
Preuitt lawyer Ron Wise said Gilley offered to fund his campaign, and Preuitt turned him down.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson seated 12 jurors plus five alternates to hear the case. The panel is almost entirely female, consisting of 15 women and two men, and split about evenly along racial lines.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Monday.
Written by Kim Chandler (Birmingham News) and Brendan Kirby (Press-Register). News staff writer Martin Swant contributed to this report.
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http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Tape-Ala-senator-offered-1M-for-vote-1423305.php
Tape: Ala. senator offered $1M for vote
By Phillip Rawls, Associated Press - June 14, 2011
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A state senator working with the FBI recorded a casino lobbyist promising $1 million a year from two casino owners if he provided a key vote for pro-gambling legislation, according to testimony Tuesday in a gambling corruption trial.
"What I'm saying is there is a million out there and you can use it however," Country Crossing casino lobbyist Jarrod Massey said on the tape played Tuesday in federal court.
He said the money could be furnished through a public relations job that would require little work or Republican Sen. Scott Beason could direct where gambling interests made $1 million in political contributions. The recording was one of several that Beason made while helping the FBI with its investigation of Statehouse corruption.
Massey said his employer Ronnie Gilley, developer of Country Crossing casino in Dothan, and Milton McGregor, owner of VictoryLand casino in Shorter, were working together to pass the legislation, and he would make sure they kept the commitment to Beason of Gardendale.
"I'm good with that," Beason replied.
Under cross-examination by McGregor's attorney, Beason acknowledged that McGregor was not there when the $1 million was discussed.
Nine people, including McGregor, are on trial in federal court on charges accusing them of buying and selling votes on legislation designed to protect electronic bingo machines at McGregor's and Gilley's now-closed casinos. Gilley and Massey have pleaded guilty and will testify later.
Beason, the first witness in the trial, will return to the stand Wednesday for the third day.
The Beason recordings played in court on Monday and Tuesday included meetings with Massey, Gilley and McGregor. The gambling advocates were short of the 21 votes they needed in the Senate to pass their legislation and were trying to get Beason on board. In most of the tapes, Beason was the first person to mention money.
That prompted a juror to send a note to the judge Tuesday asking if the meetings "could be considered entrapment?" The juror also asked if Beason was coached on what to ask the defendants.
After consulting with lawyers from both sides, the judge told the jury that entrapment is an issue of law and he would instruct the panel on the law before deliberations begin.
Then Beason testified that he talked with FBI agents about who would be at each recorded meeting, but "they never wrote anything down" for him to say in the meetings.
On one tape made Feb. 18, 2010, Beason recorded a meeting he had with Massey, Gilley and McGregor in Montgomery, where McGregor told him, "We need your vote."
Beason said he wanted to take a leadership role in the Republican Party, but lacked the financial means to do it.
"What can y'all do to help and how does that happen?" Beason asked.
"We damn sure support who supports us," McGregor told Beason, but the casino owner never mentioned any details of what the support might be.
In a recording from Feb. 19, 2010, Beason and Massey met in Homewood. Beason told Massey, "I want you to tell me what you have in mind."
Beason, a longtime opponent of gambling, was concerned about how a pro-gambling vote would be viewed.
"In order to do a lot of good, sometimes you've got to go through playing the process," Massey said.
Beason met with Gilley and Massey in Prattville on Feb. 23, 2010, where Gilley told him, "We feel like we are going to have the votes."
Then Massey told Beason, "We're solid as a rock."
Beason's recordings often contained critical remarks about other Republicans. In one comment, he accused former Gov Bob Riley of trying to help Mississippi casinos by cracking down on gambling in Alabama. Beason said he was playing a role to keep the conversation going on the tapes.
McGregor's attorney, Bobby Segall, portrayed Beason as playing more than a role. He accused the Republican senator of being politically ambitious and trying to bring down McGregor because he contributes to Democratic candidates.
Beason said he does consider McGregor to be a threat to the Legislature's Republican majority, but that was not his motivation for contacting the FBI.
"My reason was to get to the bottom of what was going on in the Legislature," he said.
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FBI lays out VictoryLand owner's calls in trial
By Phillip Rawls, Associated Press - June 29, 2011
Federal prosecutors in Alabama's gambling corruption trial used phone records Wednesday to try to tie the state's largest casino owner to a scheme to buy legislators' votes with campaign contributions.
Agent John McEachern testified that with the help of state Rep. Barry Mask, the FBI recorded a phone call between Mask and VictoryLand casino owner Milton McGregor on the morning of Feb. 15, 2010.
In that call, McGregor said he needed Mask's vote on pro-gambling legislation and promised to help his re-election campaign. But he said the help wouldn't come directly from him because that would be politically controversial in the Republican legislator's Elmore County district.
"My bottom line is I'm committed to help you in a significant way through friends of mine," McGregor promised in the tape-recorded call. He also told Mask, "I'll start making calls later today."
McGregor and eight others are in the fourth week of a trial on charges accusing them of buying and selling votes on pro-gambling legislation. The legislation was a proposed constitutional amendment designed to protect VictoryLand in Shorter and other electronic bingo casinos from raids by state police. McGregor's casino 15 miles east of Montgomery once offered 6,000 machines, but is now closed.
McEachern testified that the FBI subpoenaed McGregor's phone records and found that he called his lobbying firm, Fine Geddie and Associates, 14 minutes after hanging up with Mask.
Mask testified earlier in the trial that indicted lobbyist and defendant Bob Geddie showed up at his campaign fundraiser in Tallassee on the night of Feb. 15, 2010, and Geddie left $5,000 in contributions.
McEachern said the FBI was taping Mask the next day as the legislator called McGregor to say thanks. In that call, McGregor said he had called Geddie after hanging up with Mask on Feb. 15 and asked Geddie to represent him at the fundraiser.
Records presented in court showed the $5,000 in contributions came from political action committees operated by Geddie rather than directly from McGregor.
Prosecutors originally hadn't expected to call the FBI agent as a witness Wednesday. Country Crossing casino owner Ronnie Gilley, who has pleaded guilty to bribery, was supposed to be on the stand for a fifth day. But he became ill and went to the doctor.
Prosecutor Louis Franklin said the doctor diagnosed Gilley as being dehydrated and ordered him to rest for 24 hours and drink lots of fluids. Franklin said Gilley will return to the witness stand later.
During Gilley's four days of testimony as a prosecution witness, he admitted offering bribes to legislators to gain their support for the legislation.
Huntsville political consultant Bryant Raby, who operates four political action committees, testified that Gilley contributed $200,000 to Raby's PACs on March 24, 2010. That was six days before the state Senate passed the pro-gambling legislation pushed by Gilley.
Raby said he later met with David Mowery, a campaign consultant for indicted state Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb, and after that meeting, wrote $200,000 in checks to other PACs. He did not say what he and Mowery discussed, but prosecutor Barak Cohen asked him, "If not for that meeting would you have written these checks?"
"No," Raby replied.
Cohen asked Raby if money can be transferred between political action committees to disguise the original source of the money before it is giving to a candidate.
"Yes it could," he answered.
Raby also testified the PACs wrote $30,000 in contributions to Smith's re-election campaign on Jan. 11, 2010. Then Gilley sent the PACs $30,000 the next day.
Under questioning by Smith's attorney, Raby said he didn't know whether the checks were related because his uncle, former congressional candidate Steve Raby, was running the PACs back then.
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Bribery or innocent politics? Lawyers on both sides of bingo trial ask FBI agent about wiretap conversations
By Kim Chandler, Birmingham News - July 6, 2011
MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- Defense lawyers and prosecutors in the State House vote-buying case went back and forth this morning in their questioning of an FBI agent alternately portraying conversations picked up on wiretapped calls as bribery or innocent politics.
Prosecutor Edward Kang said he wanted to focus on what the defendants "actually said" on the calls.
Kang asked FBI Agent John McEachern about two calls between VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, hours before the Senate was scheduled to vote on a gambling bill that McGregor had been feverishly working to get approved.
Ross asked McGregor for a campaign donation noting that the "window is closing on us fast." McEachern indicated that was reference to the upcoming bingo vote. The calls took place on March 29 and the morning of March 30, 1010. The Senate voted on the gambling bill on the afternoon of March 30.
Kang also noted after McGregor assured Ross he would do anything to get him funds and after a conversation with lobbyist Tom Coker, Ross received a $10,000 donation from the Alabama Medical Association. Coker was the group's lobbyist.
Coker told McGregor that he was going to get Ross a, ... a check from the, uh, medical association and from the soft drink folks."
McGregor, Coker, Ross and six others are on trial on charges of participating in a conspiracy to buy and sell votes for a gambling bill before lawmakers in 2010. The bill would have called for a statewide referendum aimed at legalizing electronic bingo machines that McGregor wanted to offer at his VictoryLand dog track.
But on cross-examination by McGregor lawyer Ben Espy, McEachern agreed that another reasonable interpretation of the "window is closing on us fast" could be a reference to the upcoming qualifying deadline to run as a candidate.
McGregor and Ross during the call had discussed whether Ross would have opposition in his upcoming election.
McEachern also acknowledged during cross-examination that Ross did not discuss his vote or make any promises of official action during those calls with McGregor.
Defense lawyers tried to suggest to jurors that McEachern had a limited understanding of politics and the limited perspective of cooperating witnesses.
Espy asked McEachern if it wasn't true that he only had pieces of the puzzle and not the complete picture.
"I don't know if we'll ever know the complete picture with "the corruption in the Alabama Legislature," McEachern said.
Prosecutors at one point this morning complained to U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson that members of McGregor's defense team were making comments during witness testimony. A prosecutor said because he could hear the comments, he suspected that jurors could hear them as well.
Thompson said he had not heard the comments but he had seen some lawyers shaking their heads. Thompson warned both sides not to make comments or gestures. Thompson said defense lawyers would have been flying across the room to object if prosecutors had done that.
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