Alabama: Judge Dismisses Some Counts

Judge dismisses some counts against Crosby, McGregor in gambling corruption trial
Written by Sebastian Kitchen

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson on Monday dropped all but one count against legislative analyst Ray Crosby and dropped one of the charges against VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor in the ongoing federal corruption case. The charge dropped against McGregor was for allegedly attempting to bribe state Rep. Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka.

The jury will decide the fate of all of the charges against the four current or former state senators on trial as Thompson declined to drop any of those.

Thompson ruled that McGregor was acquitted on count 3, which charged McGregor and lobbyist Bob Geddie with trying to bribe Mask, who was cooperating with the FBI and recorded phone conversations with McGregor and others. They were both charged with federal programs bribery and aiding and abetting.

"As to count 3, the evidence presented by the government under the theory it asserted to the court is insufficient to support a conviction under this count," Thompson wrote in his order.
McGregor still is charged with conspiracy, five counts of federal program bribery, and 11 counts of honest services fraud.

Citing insufficient evidence to move forward, Thompson dropped the conspiracy charge and all 11 of the honest services charges against Crosby. All of those counts charged all nine of the defendants.

There is one count of federal programs bribery and aiding and abetting remaining against Crosby, who was paid $3,000 a month by McGregor while he also was being paid to help draw up potential bills for the Legislature.

Thompson denied motions for acquittal by lobbyist Tom Coker; former state Sens. Jim Preuitt of Talladega and Larry Means of Attalla; current state Sens. Quinton Ross of Montgomery and Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb; and former Country Crossing spokesman Jay Walker.

They are charged for their alleged roles in a scheme in which casino interests bribed state lawmakers to vote for gambling legislation.

Closing arguments will begin Wednesday.

Thompson has ordered that the jury be sequestered from Wednesday until they finish their deliberations.

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The judge ruled Monday that the prosecution would have five hours for its closing argument and the defense would have 10 hours to be split among the nine defendants. His order stated that those 15 hours would be split evenly between Wednesday and Thursday.

Lewis Gillis, attorney for Ross, said leaving the courthouse Monday before the orders were issued that they did not expect any of the charges against Ross to be tossed out based on their conversations with Thompson. Attorneys and defendants met with Thompson in private Monday morning.

Gillis said he felt the charges against Ross should have been tossed out from the beginning.

"I am absolutely confident they have not proven what they alleged against Senator Ross," he said.

Gillis said that McGregor and Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley, who already has pleaded guilty in the case, never contributed to Ross in 2010 despite Ross' calls seeking contributions. He said they never talked about Ross' vote in those conversations.

Prosecutors have not talked to the media during the trial, so comment from them was unavailable concerning the judge's orders.

Bribing Mask

McGregor called Mask and left a voicemail on Feb. 14, 2010, about the same time a VictoryLand employee called a woman putting together a fundraiser for Mask in Tallassee. The VictoryLand employee, according to testimony, said he wanted to buy all of the tickets to the fundraiser. She said, after consulting with Mask, that they were out of tickets, but the man said they would come to the event anyway.

Mask, on the witness stand, said he had not talked to McGregor in about two years and became concerned. He contacted the attorney with the Alabama Department of Public Safety, who put him in touch with federal authorities, who came to his Wetumpka office on Feb. 15, 2010. Mask called McGregor with the FBI in his office and secretly recorded the conversation.

McGregor said, in the recorded conversation, that he would find significant help for Mask if the legislator would support pro-gambling legislation. Mask asked how much help he could expect and asked McGregor if he would have anyone attending the fundraiser that night. McGregor said he did not know about it.

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Geddie and Ben Patterson, another lobbyist with Fine Geddie &Associates, attended the Feb. 15, 2010, fundraiser for Mask at McGregor's request, according to testimony. They brought two checks for $2,500 each from political action committees operated by Fine Geddie.

McGregor said in a recorded conversation the next day that he sent the lobbyists to the fundraiser.

Defense attorneys have since argued those contributions came from Great Southern Wood and Protective Life Corp., who also wereclients of Geddie's well-respected lobbying firm that handles large companies based both inside and outside of Alabama.

Geddie still is facing an obstruction of justice charge for having an employee of the lobbying firm change a ledger at the firm that kept up with which payments were being made on behalf of which clients. Geddie's lawyers, in court, have argued the original entry was a mistake, and that the money did not come from McGregor and instead from those two other businesses.

An attorney for Geddie, Jimmy Judkins, also has argued that, if Geddie was trying to conceal the information, he would have blacked out the data, but that the original entry still was visible when it was turned over to federal authorities. The ledger, according to testimony, was kept for internal records and was not required.