Edwards prosecutors to end their case with FBI agent

Melinda Deslatte

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000 | 12:04 p.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - A defense attorney questioned the memory and methods of an FBI agent Wednesday, as the prosecution wrapped up its case in the trial of former Gov. Edwin Edwards and Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown.

The trial began Sept. 18. It has largely centered on allegations that Edwards bribed a state judge who was overseeing the state's liquidation of the bankrupt Cascade Insurance Co., owned by a man who hired Edwards as his lawyer.

But the last prosecution witness, FBI agent Harry Burton, focused on allegations that Brown lied about his own role in the case.

Burton said that he interviewed Brown in May 1997 and that Brown claimed only vague knowledge of the state's liquidation settlement with Cascade owner David Disiere.

"Mr. Brown said he was out of the loop with regard to settlement negotiations between the Louisiana Receivership Office and David Disiere. That was a lie," Burton said.

To back up Burton's claim, prosecutors played secretly made tape recordings of Brown discussing Cascade with Edwards, and of Edwards talking about conversations Brown had about the case.

Brown's defense lawyer, William Jeffress noted that Burton's interview with Brown was not taped. During cross examination he questioned the accuracy of Burton's notes - handwritten on the day of the interview but not transcribed onto FBI forms until three days later.

Also, Jeffress noted that Burton answered questions while reading from a copy of the charges in the indictment of Brown and Edwards.

"You weren't testifying from your memory?" Jeffress asked.

Burton said he was testifying from memory but was relying on the indictment as a record of what was said.

Edwards, Brown and Shreveport lawyer Ronald Weems are accused of arranging state approval of an illegal liquidation deal in 1996 that saved the owner of the defunct Cascade Insurance Co. millions of dollars at the expense of some creditors. Edwards, a four-term former governor, had been out of office for several months at the time of the alleged crime.

This is Edwards' second federal corruption trial this year. He was convicted May 9 of racketeering and fraud in an unrelated case.

Negotiators settled the Cascade deal in December 1996 for $2.5 million instead of the state's suggested $4.4 million.

The defendants are charged with insurance, mail and wire fraud and conspiracy in the 57-count indictment. Brown and Weems also are charged with lying to investigators. All three have denied wrongdoing.

Burton interviewed Brown on May 2, 1997, in Brown's office in Baton Rouge, with a second FBI agent and an attorney for Brown present. Burton said Tuesday that he didn't tape the interview because he wanted to make Brown feel confident and comfortable.

"Placing a tape recorder in front of someone tends to prohibit all of that," Burton said.

At the time, Brown didn't know about the existence of secretly recorded conversations obtained by wiretaps placed on Edwards' home telephone and in his law office because it would have jeopardized the federal investigation of Edwards, Burton said.

Judge Edith Brown Clement's announcement Tuesday that Burton was the prosecution's last witness was unexpected.

Two of the men who pleaded guilty and were expected to testify in the case haven't taken the stand - Cascade's owner, David Disiere, and Robert Bourgeois, who was the head of the state office that handles insurance liquidations. Federal prosecutors also didn't call one of the two lawyers working on the settlement.