Highlights of Wednesday’s testimony in the Edwards trial

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 9:17 a.m.

Here are some highlights of Wednesday's testimony:

Former casino executive Mark Bradley probably won't forget his first face-to-face meeting with Edwin Edwards' co-defendant, Bobby Johnson.

Mark Bradley said Johnson frisked him as soon as he walked into the restaurant where the two men met for a business dinner.

Bradley said Johnson put his hands in the inside of the Bradley's jacket and said "he wanted to know who he was dealing with."

"I don't think he was looking for a gun," Bradley testified. "I think he was looking for a recording device."

Bradley said he had called the FBI that day to tell agents about his meeting, but they did not have time to wire him so he could record Brown's conversation.

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Bradley sounded like a businessman trying to make a business deal on the audio tapes he secretly made of his conversations with Johnson.

During testimony, however, Bradley said he was just stringing Johnson along because he feared Johnson could ruin Bradley's chances of getting a riverboat casino license if he turned Johnson down.

In almost every tape, Bradley sounds like he is ready to make a deal.

In one instance, however, Bradley is on his way to a luncheon meeting with Brown and Johnson. The FBI had placed a wire on him so he could record the conversation.

On his way into the restaurant, Bradley who seems to be talking to FBI officials picking up the conversation, says: "It's time to eat with the fat sh-t."

A few seconds later, as he is walking into the restaurant, he said "let's party."

Bradley apologized in court for making the statement and said he was under a lot of stress and very nervous.

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An image of Edwin Edwards running to answer the door in the middle of the night, with his gray hair standing on end, is enough to make anyone laugh, including some jurors.

The mental picture was drawn when prosecutors played a secretly recorded conversation of Bradley at a lunch meeting with Johnson and co-defendant Cecil Brown.

On the tape, Brown is heard telling several stories about his relationship with Edwards. In one instance, Brown said he was trapped outside Edwards' house in the middle of the night and couldn't remember Edwards' security code.

Brown said he did not want to ring the doorbell and wake Edwards up out of bed. Brown then noted that Edwards would be in his pajamas and his hair would be sticking up all over the place.

A small smile formed on Edwards face when that portion of the tape was played. The jurors smiled openly.

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While the trial was going on in Baton Rouge, a federal appeals court in New Orleans turned down the defendants' motion to lift the gag order imposed in the case ever since the November 1998 indictments.

The defendants did not seek the lifting of the gag order until September 1999 and were turned down by U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the defendants' appeal on Wednesday.

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Prosecutors will continue questioning Bradley when he returns to the witness stand Thursday.