Campbell Trial: There’s Sleaze, But Is There Corruption?
By Errin Haines, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP)-For a month, federal prosecutors have tried to prove that Bill Campbell took more than $160,000 in illegal campaign contributions, cash, junkets and home improvements from city contractors when he was Atlanta's mayor.

But some watching the trial say the only thing proven so far is that Campbell's years in office from 1994 to 2002 were marked by a high-rolling, jet-setting lifestyle, sometimes involving women outside of his marriage.

"You got a lot of smoke, and not a lot of fire," Atlanta defense attorney Bruce Harvey said. "Everybody's out front taking money and at least using Bill's name in vain. But there's been very little, if any, connection to Bill."

Campbell, 52, faces seven counts of racketeering, bribery and tax fraud. Prosecutors aim to conclude their case by Friday, and Campbell's lawyers could begin presenting their defense as soon as Tuesday.

Through more than 50 witnesses, the government has portrayed Campbell as the head of a loose-knit enterprise of city corruption. Among the key accusers are former city employees and contractors-and some of whom also became convicted felons during a seven-year federal investigation into corruption at Atlanta's City Hall.

After lengthy direct examinations from prosecutors, Campbell's defense team continues to challenge each witness' story with the same questions: Did the mayor ask you to do anything illegal? Did you see the mayor take any money?

With two exceptions-former Campbell aide Dewey Clark and city contractor C.R. "Ronnie" Thornton- the answers have been no. Clark, who lived in Campbell's basement for several years, said he once saw Campbell receive a payoff of $10,000.

Thornton, a contractor who wanted the fill-dirt contract to build a fifth runway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in 1997, testified Tuesday the mayor asked him to raise $100,000 for his re-election campaign in exchange for access to city business.

Atlanta defense lawyer Brian Steel said jurors are being asked to rely on the testimony of convicted felons who have a motive to lie about Campbell, since they are cooperating under plea bargains with the prosecution. Still, their stories as a whole could add up, he said.

"What are the odds that all these people who don't know each other have the same story?" said Steel, who represented one of the 10 city officials or contractors convicted during the corruption probe.

The brief appearances of Campbell's mistresses- former Atlanta television anchor Marion Brooks, now a weekend anchor in Chicago, and former Atlanta Housing Authority employee Martina Jimenez-provided anticlimactic testimony and prompted rare absences from Campbell's wife of 28 years. Sharon Campbell has sat behind her husband for most of the trial. Rather than recounting the steamy details of their affairs, both the witnesses commented dryly on the specifics of travels with Campbell, noting that he paid for cash while on their excursions.

Prosecutors have said the women's testimony was necessary to establish Campbell's spending patterns. But Campbell's personal lawyer and longtime friend Michael Coleman said the government needed neither of the women to prove its case.

"The government has certainly tried to sensationalize certain aspects of his personal life which should be private, in an effort to overshadow serious weaknesses in their case," Coleman said. "It was about dirtying him up and trying to make people not like him."

Campbell's attorneys say the former mayor's history of public service-which started at age 7 when he integrated the Raleigh, N.C., public school system- contradicts the notion he would abuse his office.

And for much of the trial, he has hardly looked the part of an embattled politician. He has appeared upbeat, smiling at witnesses during testimony and walking arm in arm with his wife to and from the courthouse. His attorneys have said he is eager to clear his name.

Campbell, who oversaw the 1996 Summer Olympics and was once considered a rising star in the national Democratic Party, will have to explain how he managed to gamble and jet-set on cash-paid trips to casinos and one to Paris on a public official's salary.

Prosecutors say Campbell earned an annual salary as mayor of $93,000 plus other city benefits. But in their opening statements they pointed out a drop-off in ATM withdrawals from Campbell's personal bank accounts after he left office-from as much as $20,000 a year to a mere $69 a year.

"He's spending all this cash. He certainly didn't make it on a mayor's salary," Harvey said. "He has to explain it from somewhere else, and poker winnings ain't gonna get it."

Steel agreed that Campbell's as-yet unexplained wealth could make the case for tax evasion charges. Still, he said, prosecutors admit they have no confession, no videotape and a case built on the backs of criminals-a combination that could be a hard sell for jurors.

"If you're going to charge the king," Steel said, "you need king's evidence."

Source: AP - AP Wire Service

Judge Declines Walker’s Restitution Plan

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP)-A federal judge has declined former Sen. Charles Walker's proposal to pay nearly $800,000 in restitution.

Once one of the most powerful legislators in Georgia, the 58-year-old Augusta Democrat was convicted in June of 127 counts of conspiracy and mail fraud. He immediately was stripped of the state Senate seat he had just regained.

Walker also owes $790,000 in restitution to two retail corporations that advertised with his newspaper, the Augusta Focus; his political campaign; and the CRSA Classic charity.

He asked U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. to allow him to pledge stock to secure the full amount of restitution while making installment payments. He already has paid nearly $280,000 in fines and special assessments.

Bowen rejected Walker's proposal to pledge stock in a privately held company. Instead, Bowen suggested Walker could pledge marketable securities he owns.

Walker was ordered to serve 121 months in prison for charges that included illegally profiting from advertisers of his Augusta newspaper, defrauding campaign contributors and illegally doing business with the state through two public hospitals.

He was also charged with walking away with more than $400,000 from a charity football game.

Walker is appealing his convictions.

Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Information from: The Augusta Chronicle.

Georgia Woman Pleads Not Guilty
In Molestation Of Teenage Husband
By Greg Bluestein, Associated Press Writer GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP)-

The 37-year-old woman who married her son's 15-year-old friend pleaded not guilty Friday on charges of statutory rape, child molestation and enticing a minor.

Days before her arrest in November, Lisa Lynnette Clark wed the boy under a 1962 law that set the marrying age in Georgia at 16 but made an exception in the case of pregnancy. Clark gave birth earlier this month.

Source: AP - AP Wire Service

Federal Judge Rejects Inmate's Appeal
In Atlanta Child Murders

ATLANTA (AP)-A federal judge has rejected an appeal by an inmate who was blamed in a string of child murders and disappearances 25 years ago.

Wayne Williams, who was convicted of killing two men in 1982 and is serving life in prison, claimed that prosecutors withheld critical evidence that could have led to an acquittal.

But U.S. District Judge Beverly Martin wrote Wednesday that none of the allegedly withheld evidence "would have had more than a minimal impact upon the outcome of Mr. Williams' trial had it been presented to the jury."

Two dozen young black men and children disappeared or were killed in a string of slayings that terrorized Atlanta's black community from 1979-1981.

Williams was convicted of killing Nathaniel Carter, 27, and Jimmy Ray Payne, 21, considered the last two victims in the string.

Despite the judge's ruling, attorney Michael Lee Jackson said the defense still believes "we have a crystal clear case of violations of his constitutional rights by the massive withholding of critical evidence."

The judge also rejected several other claims raised by Williams.

Source: AP - AP Wire Service