Alabama: Bringing in big guns for gambling retrial?

OUR VIEW: Bringing in big guns for gambling retrial?

If the gambling corruption case that in August produced a devastating defeat (a whole bunch of acquittals and deadlocks) for the federal government goes back to court as scheduled Jan. 30, it will be without two members of the prosecution team.

Court records revealed Wednesday show that Louis Franklin and Stephen Feaga, both assistant U.S. attorneys for Alabama’s Middle District based in Montgomery, won’t be on the prosecution team for the retrial of seven of the original nine defendants, including former state Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla. (Two others were found not guilty on all charges in the first trial.)

Both prosecutors were heavily involved in the first trial; Feaga delivered the government’s closing statement.

Justice Department officials talked of scheduling issues for federal prosecutors, especially when there’s the prospect of a long trial. U.S. Attorney George Beck talked about how he’d be glad to have Franklin and Feaga back to deal with his office’s caseload.

Maybe so, but one fact makes us a bit skeptical: The entire prosecution team for the retrial will be from Washington.

Could it be that the Justice Department, which loves to brag about its conviction and guilty plea rates and usually doesn’t bring a case unless it looks like a sure winner, didn’t like the yolk and albumen bath it got in August? Could it be that even though the first trial’s results can’t be pinned on the two Alabama prosecutors, the feds are so intent on preventing a repeat that they are bringing in the big guns from D.C.?

The biggest question — will changing faces be enough to sway an Alabama jury if the evidence and the case aren’t any stronger?