Hurricane delays appeal of ex-governor

Kevin McGill

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, whose latest appeal of his 2000 racketeering and fraud corruption conviction was to have been argued in New Orleans next week, will have to wait a while longer because of Hurricane Katrina.

Edwards, 78, is serving a 10-year federal prison sentence for extorting money from applicants from riverboat casino licenses in Louisiana. If his appeal fails, Edwards will not be released before July 2011.

New Orleans-based prosecutors asked for a delay in the Sept. 28 arguments before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Because of the hurricane, which resulted in evacuation of New Orleans, they did not have access to their files.

The defense did not object and 5th Circuit officials in Houston, where the court is now operating, said Wednesday that a one-month extension was granted. A specific date, time and place had not been set.

Much of the current appeal centers on key prosecution witness Bobby Guidry, a former casino boat owner who testified that he left monthly $100,000 payments for the Edwards and his son, Stephen Edwards, in garbage bins and other public spots. The defense argues that Guidry stood to "save more than $200 million by pleading guilty and implicating the Edwardses" under a "secret" plea agreement.

The plea agreement with Guidry limited his state and federal liability to $3.5 million in fines and forfeitures. Defense attorney Mike Small contends that Guidry made a $114 million profit when he sold the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner

Previous reports have said Guidry made $30 million off the casino while he owned it and sold the boat for $72 million.

Small said this week his case was bolstered by a ruling earlier this month by a federal judge in Texas, who threw out the conviction of two men in another case.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes acquitted a former Texas prison director, James A. "Andy" Collins, and a Canadian businessman, Yank Barry, president of Montreal-based Vitapro Foods Inc., of running an illegal kickback scheme in the mid-1990s. The ruling tossed aside a jury's conviction of the pair more than four years ago.

Hughes said the key witness in the case, Patrick Graham, was a convicted thief and con man whose stories were inconsistent and not to be believed. While attacking Graham's credibility, Hughes also took New Orleans-based U.S. Attorney Jim Letten to task for an allegedly keeping secret an agreement not to prosecute Hughes in related Louisiana cases.

Small said Hughes' contention that Letten had a secret agreement with a disreputable government witness bolsters his argument that Letten had a secret agreement affecting the credibility of Guidry.

"We certainly feel it bolsters our case," Small said Wednesday. "We have sent it on to the 5th Circuit so they will be aware of the district judge's ruling."

Letten declined comment Wednesday, as he routinely does on pending cases. Asked about the ruling last week, Houston-based U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg told The Advocate of Baton Rouge that Letten was "honorable and ethical." He declined comment on the case specifically.