New Fraud Trial For Former La. Gov.

Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards has a new legal lease on life.

Edwards was granted a new trial Wednesday on several mail fraud convictions in his gambling corruption case. Prosecutors agreed the guilty verdicts were overturned by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola made the ruling without comment before hearing additional arguments on the extent to which evidence presented to support the voided convictions improperly influenced jurors on other matters in the case.

"We have no way of telling on what basis the jury found guilt," said Jim Cole, attorney for Edwin and Stephen Edwards. "You have this chance the jury never reached the legally valid theory because the legally invalid theory was present."

Prosecutor Todd Greenberg disagreed, saying the Supreme Court did not affect the bulk of the counts on which Edwards, his son and three others were convicted.

Because of the complexity of the jury verdict form, the jury had to carefully debate each specific charge and would not have used guilt on one charge to prove guilt on another, he said.

Greenberg pointed out the jury found the men innocent on some of the other mail fraud counts.

"They carefully parsed through this evidence," he said. "The jury went count by count, obviously looking at evidence that pertained in each count."

During the trial, prosecutors claimed the men defrauded the state out of riverboat casino licenses — some of which were never awarded.

In November, the Supreme Court ruled that federal mail fraud laws do not apply to licenses that have not been awarded, but that such fraud requires the property be taken.

The ruling affected part of the 1997 conviction of Carl W. Cleveland, a New Orleans attorney who was accused of disguising his interest in a Slidell video poker truck stop because of past financial problems.

The government admitted the ruling affected three mail fraud convictions and asked for new trials on those charges, but prosecutors said they presented an overwhelming amount of additional evidence to prove the other charges.

Polozola delayed Edwards' sentencing to hear arguments about the ruling. The judge said he would set a sentencing date after the hearing, if the convictions are upheld.

Outside the courthouse before Wednesday's hearing, Edwards told reporters that he believed the ruling would help his cause.

"The impact of the Cleveland case as determined by the Supreme Court certainly has a good impact on our case," Edwards said. "To what extent has yet to be determined, but everybody agrees that it has been helpful."

A jury convicted the Edwardses in May of racketeering, extortion, fraud and conspiracy on charges of rigging riverboat casino licenses. Also convicted on a variety of charges were former Edwards aide Andrew Martin, cattleman Cecil Brown and Bobby Johnson, a Baton Rouge businessman.

The men plan to appeal their convictionif they do not receive a new trial.

U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan, whose office prosecuted Edwards in two separate federal corruption trials this year, has said he doesn't believe the entire case will be thrown out because of the Supreme Court ruling.

"We presented ample evidence of another kind to support those other charges," he said.

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