Prosecutors focus on member of casino regulatory board

Natalie Gott

Thursday, March 30, 2000 | 9:08 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - With the government prepared to rest its federal racketeering case against Edwin Edwards and five others, prosecutors began laying out their evidence against gambling board member Ecotry Fuller, a defendant who barely had been mentioned in the trial.

However, none of the witnesses called Wednesday could say they saw Fuller actually turn over to state Sen. Greg Tarver a confidential state police report on riverboat casino license applicants, which prosecutors claim he did.

The testimony Wednesday instead focused on Fuller's motion to approve a casino license for former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.

Edwards, his son, Stephen, Fuller, Tarver and three others are accused in a series of schemes to manipulate the way the state awarded riverboat casino licenses. Their trial started Jan. 10.

The prosecution could rest its case later today.

A Louisiana State Police captain who works with the gaming board testified that Fuller surprised him when he made a motion at the March 13, 1997, gaming board meeting to approve DeBartolo's license application.

Capt. Robert Adam White said Fuller had made several public statements in support of Horseshoe Casino, another of the five applicants who applied for the state's last riverboat casino license.

On the day of the vote, however, Fuller apparently interrupted a fellow gaming board member to make a motion to support DeBartolo's application, White said.

"Mr. (James) Boyer appeared to me to be getting close to the microphone to say something but Mr. Fuller went on to make his motion," White said.

Gaming board chairman Hillary Crain also testified this week that he was surprised Fuller supported Horseshoe because he had publicly supported Horseshoe's practice of hiring local and minority employees.

Crain testified Wednesday that Fuller asked him for an extra copy of the confidential state police report, but Crain denied the request. Crain was not asked whether Fuller said why he needed an extra copy.

Fuller is accused of giving the report to Tarver, who allegedly passed it on to Edwards, who had left office a year earlier. Edwards allegedly sent the report to DeBartolo, who was awarded the license, but gave it back after appearing before the federal grand jury.

An FBI agent testified Tuesday that the report, which Fuller turned over to the government, had both Tarver's and Fuller's fingerprints on it.

The document was not marked "confidential," but Crain said he expected all board members to keep information he sent them to themselves.

"I don't know if I marked every document 'confidential,' even if it was confidential," he said.

DeBartolo's copy of the report was never found. Fuller produced his own report.

Crain testified about Fuller's call for another copy under cross-examination from Tarver's attorney, Mary Olive Pierson. Fuller's attorney, Craig Smith, did not bring the issue up when he questioned Crain.

Also Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola removed a fourth juror from the panel, leaving only two alternates.

Polozola did not give any reason for dismissing Juror No. 350. But in the past two weeks, he has given jurors strong warnings about discussing the case in public, telling them to walk away if anyone tries to talk to them about the case. He reissued the warning Wednesday.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans quoted an unnamed source as saying the juror was suspected of being involved in a conversation about the case at a beauty parlor.

"If anybody persists in talking to you, I would like you to know about it," Polozola said. "I don't want anybody talking to you about this case. I don't want any of you talking about the case.

Jurors' names have not been made public. Juror No. 350 is white and is from West Baton Rouge Parish. A distant cousin of hers worked as a police officer at the Governor's Mansion while Edwards was in office.

She was replaced by Juror 335, a 54-year-old white woman who works as a technician and did not want to give personal information in front of the press.