Brown’s son-in-law testifies for the prosecution

Natalie Gott

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000 | 1:50 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Former Gov. Edwin Edwards' friend and co-defendant Cecil Brown walked out of the courtroom Thursday after prosecutors in Edwards' federal racketeering trial called Brown's son-in-law to testify.

The appearance on the stand of Karl DeRouen, married to Brown's oldest daughter, made for one the most emotional days in court since the trial began Jan. 10.

Brown's wife dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief as DeRouen testified about Brown's boasts of influence with Edwards and at least one riverboat casino owner.

Early on, one of Brown's younger daughters ran out of the room in tears after DeRouen, in response to a prosecutor's question, said, it was "extremely difficult to be here today."

Later, during cross examination, Brown himself left the courtroom with his wife and asked a reporter covering the trial to let him know when DeRouen left the stand.

Brown, Edwards, Edwards' son Stephen and four other defendants are accused of a series of bribery and extortion schemes designed to manipulate the riverboat casino licensing process during and after Edwards' fourth term, which ended in January 1996.

DeRouen was testifying under a plea agreement that arose from an unrelated case. A former aide to U.S. Rep. Chris John, D-Crowley, DeRouen pleaded guilty last year to federal charges that he did not report a felony when Brown and Texas businessman Patrick Graham asked him to help steer federal contracts to Graham. He was fined $3,100, put on three years of probation and never served any jail time.

His testimony centered on a Feb. 7, 1997, telephone call caught on tape by federal investigators. Prior to the call, DeRouen had asked Brown to help him get jobs in the riverboat casino industry for some of his friends.

On tape, Brown is heard telling DeRouen that he had spoken to "the owner of the most successful boat in Metairie" and that the owner would help look for the jobs. On the stand, DeRouen said the man was former Treasure Chest casino owner Robert Guidry, who has already pleaded guilty in connection with the case and who testified against Edwards earlier in the trial.

Brown is also heard telling DeRouen on tape: "Also tell him, I think I can help him a lot more when my friend comes in town on the 13th because he helped most everybody. He's had something to do with everybody getting their license."

Under questioning from Greenberg, DeRouen said he understood that Cecil's friend was Edwin Edwards. DeRouen said Brown frequently referred to Edwards as Edwin, the governor, the boss or my friend.

DeRouen also told Greenberg that he knew that Edwards traveled to Colorado frequently. During the taped conversation, Brown had noted that his friend was in Colorado.

DeRouen also described overhearing Brown's end of another telephone conversaion in which Brown discussed splitting a sum of money with someone. DeRouen said he did not know who Brown was talking to or how much money was involved. However, he believed that the person Brown said was due for a split was Edwards.

DeRouen also said that Brown often carried some type of badge. Brown claimed he used the badge to get out of speeding tickets when he was pulled over by state police, DeRouen said.

On cross examination by Small, DeRouen admitted he never knew what the badge was actually for. Small indicated through questioning that the badge could have been issued to Brown when Brown was a livestock inspector for the state.