Ex-Louisiana governor reports to Texas prison

Anita Chang

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards had at least one good thing to say about the legal system after arriving in Fort Worth for a 10-year prison term.

"I appreciate the fact the court system and prison system have allowed me to self-surrender," Edwards, 75, said at the gates of a low-security federal prison on Monday.

Mostly though, Edwards was defiant, maintaining his innocence and contending he was wrongly convicted for a May 2000 racketeering, extortion and fraud conviction in a scheme to rig the casino licensing process.

"It is the system. It's a good system. In this case it went awry, but I will not be the last person to visit this gate undeservedly," he said.

The former governor pledged he would be a "model prisoner as I was a model citizen."

Edwards was found guilty, along with son Stephen and three other men, after his fourth and final term in office, which ended in 1996. Edwards has continuously fought his convictions.

"I was absolutely convinced the 5th Circuit would reverse it. There's no justification at all why they wouldn't reverse it," he said.

Edwards is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the high court refused to let him remain free while determining if it will hear his case. The court takes up only a tiny fraction of the cases it receives.

Legal issues include the anonymity of jurors, the dismissal of a juror and the legality of certain wiretaps.

Edwards has repeatedly said that even under the assumption that his convictions are valid, he never hurt the state or its residents.

"I want to reiterate that it does not have to do with me doing anything wrong as governor," Edwards said.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of New Orleans, who was the chief prosecutor on the case, scoffed at that statement.

"That is probably as bald a lie as anyone has ever told," he said.

Letten said there was ample evidence presented at trial that Edwards used his power as governor to manipulate the licensing of riverboat casinos.

Letten added his view that Edwards' vanity and concern for his legacy as governor cost him a chance to draw a lesser prison term before his case ever went to trial.

Edwards, the most powerful and dominant politician in Louisiana since Huey Long, has been the subject of about two dozen investigations and had won every battle with federal prosecutors until two years ago.

Edwards was acquitted on racketeering charges in the 1980s and acquitted in October 2000 on fraud charges related to the liquidation of a failed insurance company.

Edwards' son Stephen reported to a prison Monday more than 300 miles away in Beaumont.

Three other men were convicted with Edwards and his son -- businessman Bobby Johnson, cattleman Cecil Brown and former Edwards aide Andrew Martin.