Guidry back on witness stand

Natalie Gott

Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000 | 12:51 p.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Government witness Robert Guidry will return to court Monday for his sixth day on the witness stand in former Gov. Edwin Edwards' federal racketeering trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Harper began to requestion Guidry late Friday afternoon, after defense attorneys ended three days of heated cross-examination.

Edwards, his son, Stephen and five others are on trial for allegedly accepting payoffs from Guidry and other casino applicants.

Guidry pleaded guilty in October 1998 to an extortion charge for paying the Edwardses. He was fined $3.5 million and faces up to five years in prison.

Guidry has testified that he sealed a deal with Edwards in a Baton Rouge hotel room in 1994. The deal called for Guidry to make monthly payments of $100,000 to the Edwardses and defendant Andrew Martin in exchange for the Edwardses help in securing a state riverboat license for Guidry's Treasure Chest Casino, Guidry testified.

In all, Guidry said, he paid the Edwardses and Martin $1.5 million.

The deal was made in 1994, while Edwards was in his fourth and final term of office, but it called for the payments to be made after Edwards left office in 1996, Guidry said.

Guidry admitted Friday that there were many inconsistencies in his testimony and the plea agreement he signed.

Some of the dates of the alleged payments and bank withdrawals were mixed up and terms of the alleged agreements also were incorrect, Guidry admitted.

For instance, in a document he signed when he pleaded guilty, Guidry said Martin had demanded a percentage of the Treasure Chest's net proceeds.

Guidry on Friday changed his answer to say Martin wanted a percentage of the gross revenue from the boat.

Harper re-questioned Guidry about statements he had made to defense attorneys.

He homed in on Guidry's alleged payment to Stephen Edwards in April 1997. Guidry had testified that he and Stephen Edwards met at a restaurant then drove their cars to a side road so Guidry could toss the Edwardses payments through his car window into Stephen Edwards' van.

Defense attorneys had presented an FBI document that never indicated there had been a payoff.

Guidry told Harper that the payoff did occur, and the payment was not a legal free.

"I never pay legal fees by throwing money through a window," Guidry said.