File this under: "You Got to be kidding me."
Source: Times-Picayune
WASHINGTON - Accusing the Bush Justice Department of mounting a bogus bribery case and using tainted evidence, attorneys for Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, asked a federal judge Friday to throw out 14 of the 16 charges against the nine-term congressman and to move the trial on the two remaining counts to Washington, D.C., from northern Virginia.
In hundreds of pages of motions, Jefferson's legal team, led by Washington lawyer Robert Trout, argue that the government choreographed events, including changing the locale of a 2005 meeting in which a government informant gave Jefferson a briefcase with $100,000, to justify bringing the case in a jurisdiction friendlier to the prosecution. The brief said that the government wants to try the case in northern Virginia because the judicial district has a lower percentage of African-Americans than Washington, D.C does, and therefore violates the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. Jefferson is African-American.
AAPPundit: Jefferson and his legal team must think black folks in Washington are stupid. Why would black folks fall for this "Race Card" garbage!
Jefferson's motions, filed with U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III, also argue that FBI agents who raided Jefferson's New Orleans home Aug. 3, 2005, rousing him from sleep at 7 a.m., photographed records, including some discovered in the congressman's briefcase and others on a night table, not listed on a court-obtained search warrant. The congressman's attorneys also argue that the Justice Department side-stepped statute of limitations deadlines and evidence problems by lumping some charges under "vague" conspiracy allegations.
But the biggest problem with the government's case, Jefferson's legal team said, is that the thrust of the government's case centers on accusations that Jefferson accepted and solicited bribes. They contend that what Jefferson is accused of doing, including accepting payments to help U.S. firms obtain contracts in Western Africa, doesn't meet the definition of the federal bribery statute.
There was no immediate comment from the Justice Department, which has three weeks to respond to the motions. Some legal experts believe the motions are so voluminous they could delay the scheduled Jan. 16 start for the trial.
Quoting from a 1999 Supreme Court decision, Jefferson's legal team said that to win a bribery conviction, the government must show that a public official accepted something of value in return for an official act. But, they argue, none of Jefferson's alleged actions, including funneling $367,000 from the Kentucky company iGate Inc., to a business owned by the Jefferson family in return for the congressman's help winning contracts in Western Africa, are "official acts" of a member of the House of Representatives.
AAPPundit: Dollar bill Jefferson needs to come up with a better defense than the "Race Card." Black folks are not stupid. What was he doing with $90,000 in his freezer? Just answer that straight forward question? To bad dollar Bill Jefferson is spending time claiming racism Ignoring New Orleans' poor not even addressing the slow recovery and New Orleans resident concerns.
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