Opening statements launch trial of former Louisiana governor

Natalie Gott

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2000 | 8:53 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Federal prosecutors have confirmed that the man recorded on an FBI videotape receiving a bundle of cash from former Gov. Edwin Edwards during a riverboat investigation is state Sen. Cleo Fields.

"You will see Edwin Edwards hand a roll of cash to Fields," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said during opening remarks Tuesday in Edwards' federal racketeering trial.

A defense attorney later said that Edwards gave $25,000 to Fields, who was a U.S. congressman at the time.

Edwards, his son Stephen, state Sen. Greg Tarver, former Gambling Board member Ecotry Fuller and three others are charged with manipulating the state's riverboat casino licensing process. Opening statements were held Tuesday.

Prosecutors planned to begin building their case against Edwards today. Lt. Dane Morgan, who heads the state police section that regulates riverboats, will be the first witness. He is expected to testify about how gambling licenses are awarded.

Before Morgan testifies, U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola will read to jurors the instructions they are to follow while they listen to the case.

On Tuesday, Letten laid out the case to jurors, saying the government would outline seven criminal schemes involving all or some of the defendants.

The schemes will include the alleged multimillion-dollar shakedowns of casino license applicants, money laundering efforts and an attempt to turn the tables on investigators by wiretapping an FBI agent. The crimes are alleged to have begun during the last of Edwards' four terms and continued after he left office.

"Edwards served as the core, the very essence of a criminal enterprise," Letten said.

Edwards' Boston lawyer, Daniel Small, responded by likening the prosecution's case to one of his children's jigsaw puzzles that has several pieces missing.

"You cannot convict someone of a crime as serious as this on bits and pieces," Small told the jury.

Small outlined Edwards' 40 years in public life and noted that the outspoken governor often was surrounded by controversy, although much of that was generated by a serious of federal investigations that netted nothing.

Small said he expected the same from this investigation.

"This is a corruption case without corruption. This is an extortion case without extortion," Small said.

Prosecutors will try to put a criminal spin on innocent business transactions, Small predicted, noting that some of Edwards' transactions will involve large amounts of cash.

"He did not deal in cash to hide some sort of illegal enterprise," Small said. He simply used cash because he had it, Small added.

Both Letten and defense attorney Mary Olive Pierson focused parts of their arguments on the videotape allegedly showing Edwards handing cash to Fields, who became the state's second black congressman in the early 1990s, then returned to the Legislature after reapportionment changed the racial makeup of his congressional district.

On the secretly made tape, jurors will see Fields ask for a piece of paper and a rubber band to secure the roll of cash Edwards hands him, Letten said. And Edwards will admonish him to be careful because "that guy is under serious, serious, serious investigation."

Letten said the government will prove that the "guy" under investigation was Tarver, D-Shreveport, who is alleged to have helped corrupt the licensing process working with Fuller.

Pierson, who is Tarver's attorney, told the jury that Edwards did indeed give Fields $25,000 in cash, but it had nothing to do with the crime Tarver is accused of - trying to influence the awarding of the final available casino license to former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo.

Fields, D-Baton Rouge, is not charged with wrongdoing and is not even mentioned in the indictment. He could not be reached Monday and his attorney, Mike Small of Alexandria, would not discuss the matter, citing a gag order that prohibits him from discussing the case.

After court Tuesday, Edwards said there was nothing improper about giving the cash to Fields, but Edwards would not say why he gave Fields the money.

"I want it to be a surprise for them," Edwards said of the prosecutors.

Stephen Edwards' attorney, Jim Cole, had cautioned jurors to carefully evaluate any information obtained from secretly recorded telephone conversations and hidden cameras.

"Out of thousands of hours of tapes, they are going to play for you a few hours," Cole said. "Out of all of those hours, they are going to focus on a few minutes."

Letten also touched on the alleged roles of three other defendants. Former Edwards aide Andrew Martin, cattleman Cecil Brown and businessman Bobby Johnson are accused of insulating Edwards from direct contact with riverboat applicants. Martin is accused of ferrying money in the case.

Bolstering his claim that extortion did indeed take place, Letten said one alleged victim, former Treasure Chest casino owner Robert Guidry, became so incensed at having to make monthly $100,000 payments that he began placing the money in garbage bins.

"He made sure they would have to soil themselves to get the money," Letten said.

Guidry, while characterized as a victim, also has pleaded guilty to funneling money to Edwards in an attempt to win riverboat licenses and may be a prosecution witness.