Defense says case is all “gossip, innuendo and lies”

Natalie Gott

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 | 2:58 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - On trial for the third time in his life, former Gov. Edwin Edwards listened calmly but attentively Wednesday as his lawyer told a jury that federal prosecutors built a racketeering case against him on half-truths and lies.

"We do not in this country convict someone on gossip, innuendo and lies," defense attorney Dan Small said, taking his last crack at trying to convince the jury that the four-term former governor should not be sent to prison.

Edwards faces 27 counts that could net him a 350-year prison sentence. At age 72, conviction on even a few charges could mean the rest of his life in prison.

"We ask you to put an end to this nightmare and find Edwin Edwards not guilty on all charges," Small told the jury.

Small wrapped up his argument in two hours but it will be next week before the jury begins deliberations.

Five of Edwards' co-defendants spent the rest of the day making their case and the lawyer for Edwards' son and co-defendant Stephen Edwards will have two hours to argue on Thursday. Prosecutors then will have two hours of rebuttal arguments and then court will recess for a three-day Easter weekend.

Small said several witnesses called in the case told only half the story or even changed their stories when they did not fit with what the government wanted.

One such witness, Small said, was former San Franciso 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr.

DeBartolo testified that Edwards threatened to cause problems for DeBartolo's casino license application in 1997 if he did not pay Edwards $400,000.

But, Small noted, in conversations heard on the government's own recordings, Edwards is heard expressing nothing but support for DeBartolo's project.

DeBartolo testified under an agreement with federal prosecutors, pleading guilty to failure to report the alleged extortion. He drew no prison time.

"Eddie DeBartolo made a sweet business deal. That's what happened. He made a business deal with those people," Small said, pointing to the prosecution table. "He took them for a ride."

In 40 years of public life Edwards built a reputation as a quick-witted wheeler-dealer, an unabashed gambler and ladies man and a populist champion of the underprivileged. He also was often tied to scandal and has, by his own count been the subject of close to two-dozen state and federal criminal investigations.

One probe into hospital and nursing home investments led to his indictment in 1985. He endured two federal trials, one that ended with a hung jury in 1985 and the other in which he was acquitted in 1986.