Alabama: Jury Deliberates in Vote Buying Trial

Jury deliberations continue in gambling corruption trial
Written by Sebastian Kitchen

The jury in the high-profile political corruption trial of ca­sino owner Milton McGregor and five others, including three current or former state sena­tors, will return to the federal courthouse today for a seventh day of deliberations.

There was little action in the courtroom on Tuesday as the jury deliberated for about six and a half hours. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson met privately with prosecutors, the defendants and their attorneys after the jury finished its delib­erations at about 3:30 p.m. Some of them had left the courthouse and were sum­moned back for the meeting. They met for less than 30 min­utes.

McGregor left the court­house with his team of attor­neys around 5:20 p.m., about an hour and a half after the meet­ing with Thompson.

McGregor is accused of leading an alleged conspiracy in which he and fellow casino owners and those who worked for them bribed state lawmak­ers with cash and campaign contributions in exchange for their votes on gambling legisla­tion.

"I think we're headed for a verdict," said Joe Espy, lead at­torney for McGregor, when they emerged from the court­house.

He said they believe "that's an innocent verdict" for McGregor, who owns Victory­Land 20 miles east of Mont­gomery.

In the last corruption trial for McGregor and the other de­fendants, the jury deliberated for seven days. It found the then nine defendants not guilty of most of the charges against them, did not find them guilty of any of the more than 120 counts against them, and total­ly exonerated two of the defen­dants. But those jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision on 33 counts so prose­cutors moved forward with a second trial on them.

Susan James, an attorney for defendant and former Country Crossing casino spokesman Jay Walker, said that this jury has had so many breaks that Tues­day was really just the second full day of deliberation. So she said she did not view it as the jury having deliberated for as long as the one at the first trial, when there were more defen­dants and more counts.

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She said someone could view the jury leaving at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, when the members have been leaving at 4 p.m. on other weekdays, as an indica­tion that they are "closer and want to sleep on it" and come back fresh in the morning to discuss it.

"We're very optimistic," James said leaving the court­house.

Espy said the jury leaving earlier could indicate the jury is close to a verdict or might not indicate anything.

This trial began Feb. 6.

The team of prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice presented its case until Feb. 24, when it rested after calling nine witnesses. Defense attorneys did not call a single witness.

After hearing closing argu­ments from both sides and in­structions from the judge, the jury actually began its deliber­ations Thursday.

The other defendants are state Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb; former state Sens.
Larry Means of Attalla and Jim Preuitt of Talladega; and McGregor lobbyist Tom Coker.

They are accused of working together in 2010 to try to en­sure that the Legislature passed a gambling bill, which if also approved by voters, would have allowed McGregor and Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley, who has already pleaded guilty, to keep their ca­sinos open.

Smith, an independent state senator who represents coun­ties in southeast Alabama, made time on Tuesday while the jury was deliberating to go to the State House, where her fellow state lawmakers were in session.

James said the jury, at this point, has likely gone through every defendant and every count. She said there seems to be more camaraderie with this jury than the first. James said she has not heard people talk about hearing yelling from the jury room and that when peo­ple see the jurors they do not appear to have the upset looks that were sometimes visible on the faces of jurors in the first trial.

"I think they're trying to reach some closure in this case," she said.
James reminded reporters that the judge gave the jury 47 pages of instructions.


Sixth day of deliberations conclude in gambling corruption retrial
By: Lance Griffin Dothan Eagle

5:11 p.m. -- The sixth day of deliberations in the gambling corruption retrial was perhaps the quietest as jurors appeared to deliberate without interruption until 3:30 p.m.
1:31 pm – Jurors spent the first half of Tuesday in what appeared to be uninterrupted deliberations in the gambling corruption trial. Deliberations were halted several times since the jury got the case last week with notes to the judge.


Gambling Corruption Retrial: Jury begins 6th day of deliberations
Reported by: Scott Packard
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) - Jurors in the gambling corruption retrial started a sixth day of deliberations Tuesday morning in Montgomery.