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Democrats convicted of vote fraud
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- A federal jury Wednesday convicted the head of this city's Democratic Party and four others of scheming to buy votes with cash, cigarettes and liquor last November to try to get key Democrats elected. Jurors in the monthlong trial deliberated more than five hours before convicting local Democratic Party chairman Charles Powell Jr., 61, and Kelvin Ellis, 55, the city's former director of regulatory affairs, of felony conspiracy to commit vote fraud. Also convicted were Democratic precinct committee members Sheila Thomas, 31, and Jesse Lewis, 56, and City Hall worker Yvette Johnson, 46.Ellis, Thomas, Lewis and Johnson also were convicted of one count apiece of election fraud for allegedly paying at least one person to vote -- or offering to do so. Powell was never charged with that count. Jurors set aside defense claims that the government's case was flimsy because of unreliable witnesses whose testimony often contradicted each other and, at times, was recanted. ''I respect the jury, but I am disappointed,'' Ellis' attorney, John O'Gara, said after the verdicts. He said the defense would consider asking for a new trial. A date for sentencing was not immediately set. ''We'll take it one step at a time in terms of where we go from here,'' said Johnson's attorney, Pearson Bush, who declined to elaborate. Messages left with attorneys for Powell and Thomas were not immediately returned. Voice mail for Lewis' attorney was full. Prosecutors provided little evidence directly linking the defendants to the alleged vote-buying, often relying on secretly recorded audiotapes in which they say those accused could be heard talking about paying $5 per vote in the Nov. 2 election -- and whether that amount would be enough. A federal prosecutor in the case referred calls to his boss, U.S. Attorney Ron Tenpas, who did not immediately return messages left at his office. Prosecutors alleged that money flowed from the Belleville-based St. Clair County Democrats to their East St. Louis counterparts in a bid to elect certain Democratic candidates, including Mark Kern as St. Clair County Board chairman. Kern, who narrowly won the race, has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Powell lost his re-election bid to the City Council in April after his arrest. State records showed that tens of thousands of dollars were transferred from the county Democrats to the committeemen days before the Nov. 2 election. Party leaders said it was for legitimate expenses, including rides to the polls for people without cars. Defense attorneys called the audiotapes -- the cornerstone of the government's case -- meaningless entrapments by opportunistic informants intent on seizing power for themselves. Defense attorneys called the prosecution's key witnesses liars. ''I would say jurors looked at these tapes and listened to them, and I'm guessing they are using the interpretations these very faulty witnesses gave them to reach their conclusion,'' O'Gara said after the verdicts. ''I would not have trusted the government's presentation.'' Another tidbit on this case from Powerline;This is, really, only the tip of the iceberg; still to come is an attempted murder trial arising out of the effort by a Democratic Party official to murder a witness who threatened to blow the whistle on the Democratic official's corruption. Based on press accounts, I understand that in the attempted murder case, the prosecution will offer into evidence photographs that were shown to the Democratic Party official, which appeared to show the dead body of the witness whom the official had ordered murdered. Posted by: Steve 2005-06-30 |
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