William Jefferson Convicted in Bribery Case, Guilty On 11 Of 16 Counts

[babylonsister]

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/6970

William Jefferson Convicted in Bribery Case
By: twolf1 Wednesday August 5, 2009 2:59 pm


The New York Times is reporting that former Representative William J. Jefferson has been found guilty of "11 of 16 counts of bribery-related crimes."

WASHINGTON — Former Representative William J. Jefferson was convicted on Wednesday afternoon of using his office to try to enrich himself and relatives through a web of bribes and payoffs involving business ventures in Africa.

A federal court jury in Alexandria, Va., deliberated for five days before finding Mr. Jefferson, 62, a New Orleans Democrat who served in Congress for 18 years until being defeated in 2008, guilty of 11 of 16 counts of bribery-related crimes. The jurors thus rejected defense assertions that Mr. Jefferson’s business-promotion activities in Africa did not qualify as “official acts” under public corruption laws.

Mr. Jefferson faces a long prison term, unless his conviction is overturned on appeal.

Jefferson had pleaded not guilty on all 16 counts. The counts include bribery, racketeering, fraud, obstruction of justice and conspiracy and could earn Mr. Jefferson a prison stay of 235 years.

In 2006, Jefferson's office was raided by the FBI where they discovered a large sum of bills hidden away in a freezer.

The information on the cash, discovered in Jefferson's Washington home in August 2005, was revealed in an affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search Jefferson's office in May 2006.

Descriptions from the heavily edited affidavit and pictures of the alleged open freezer show bills wrapped in foil and tucked into frozen food containers, including a box for pie crusts and another for veggie burgers.

FBI agents told a judge the money was part of a $100,000 payment delivered by an informant in the bribery investigation, which led to guilty pleas by a Kentucky businessman and a former Jefferson aide.

[BlooInBloo]

1. (shrug) Send him away. Don't need any bribery in our midst.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. I'll be damned. Justice? Wow.

Except...since there will be an appeal, does anyone know which court it will be appealed to and if that is a Bushwah court???

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. His appeal will be to the Fourth Circuit -

I'm not sure there's significant appealable error there, though - from friends who were involved in the case, I hear it was done quite immaculately.

His trial took place just a few blocks from here.

The Fourth Circuit has traditionally - not "Bushwah" - been a conservative venue. There are some very good judges sitting there............................

[malaise]

4. As you make your bed

so shall you lie. Fugg off.
Now let's have some justice for Don Siegelman

[fuzzy britches]

5. What's to appeal? He was pretty much caught, er red-handed, as it were.

He clearly appears to be a sleazy crook, what's the upside to excusing him?

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Dumbass. n/t

[reflection]

7. Finally.

He was a distraction and an embarassment. Good riddance.

[rustydog]

8. Send his crooked ass to jail...

Fucking crooked bastard