Alabama: Jury meets again today in gambling corruption trial

Jury meets again today in gambling corruption trial
Written by Sebastian Kitchen

The jury in a federal corruption trial met Wednesday and will begin again today with no new indication of where it is at in its deliberations, after indicating Tuesday that it had decided some counts and was dead­locked on others.

"We are encouraged by what happened today," said Joe Espy, lead attorney for VictoryLand own­er Milton McGregor. Espy said the jury, after appearing deadlocked on some charges a day before, was trying to reach a verdict.



Lewis Gillis, an attorney for state Sen. Quinton Ross of Mont­gomery, said with them not hearing from the jury Wednesday that he hopes that indicates the jury "will come back for a positive verdict for us in the morning."



Espy said the jury sent no notes Wednesday, sent no questions and took very few breaks. He said it was a "good, hard day of work."



"They are doing a good job de­liberating," Gillis said.



Espy and Gillis said they be­lieve the counts decided so far are not guilty.



"I'm crazy enough to believe something did happen today posi­tive for the defendants," Gillis said.



The jury indicated in a note to U.S. District Judge Myron Thomp­son on Tuesday that it had reached a unanimous decision on some counts, but felt it would "never" reach a unanimous decision on all counts.



Gillis and Susan James, an attorney for former Country Crossing spokesman Jay Walker, were among those who expected to hear from the jury Wednesday.



"I thought we would have something today. I thought we would have something this morning," Gillis said.



But, Espy said, "what we see is the jury is in charge."



"It sounds like they've worked hard all day," he said.



McGregor, Ross and Walker are among nine de­fendants. The other defen­dants are state Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb; for­mer state Sens. Larry Means of Attalla and Jim Preuitt of Talladega; lobbyists Bob Geddie and Tom Coker; and Ray Crosby, who was an analyst and attorney for the Alabama Legislature.



The prosecution contends that casino owners including McGregor and his lobbyists bribed state lawmakers to pass legislation that, if ap­proved by voters, would have allowed casinos in the state to continue operating.



The jury, which indicated it would continue meeting at 9 a.m. today, began deliber­ating Friday after a nine-week trial. The panel deliber­ated on Saturday and Sun­day.



Thompson has indicated he is open to a partial ver­dict. On Tuesday, after hear­ing the jurors were dead­locked on some counts, Thompson told them to go back and try to resolve those deadlocked counts.



"This is always a positive sign they are taking this case seriously," Gillis said.



Espy said he is in favor of the jury meeting "as long as they are comfortable work­ing."



"We would like a full ver­dict," he said.



When asked how opti­mistic he was that the jury would come back with a ver­dict by the end of the week, Gillis said "I'm as optimistic as I can be."



When asked about waiting on the jury while counts could be decided against Ross, Gillis said they have to "use their ability to concen­trate on other things.



"That has proven hard for me to do," Gillis said. " ... It is easier for him to do."