Judge says legislators who wore wires in bingo case were motivated by politics and racism

MONTGOMERY, Al.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in an order today lambasted two key prosecution witnesses in the State House vote-buying case as being motivated by political ambition and racial prejudice.
Thomson said Republicans Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale and former Rep. Benjamin Lewis of Dothan had ulterior motives when they assisted investigators in the case. Beason and Lewis were key prosecution witnesses in the case, in which VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and others were charged with offering and taking bribes to try to get a gambling bill approved in the Alabama Legislature. The two Republicans said they approached FBI agents after they felt gambling interests made improper offers to try to secure their votes on the bill.
"The evidence introduced at trial contradicts the self-serving portrait of Beason and Lewis as untouchable opponents of corruption. In reality, Beason and Lewis had ulterior motives rooted in naked political ambition and pure racial bias," Thompson wrote.
"The court finds that Beason and Lewis lack credibility for two reasons. First, their motive for cooperating with F.B.I. investigators was not to clean up corruption but to increase Republican political fortunes by reducing African-American voter turnout. Second, they lack credibility because the record establishes their purposeful, racist intent," Thompson wrote.
Beason wore a wire for the FBI, and the recordings picked up a conversation among Republicans talking about the effect a gambling referendum would have on voter turn-out during an election.
They talked about how "every black, every illiterate," would be taken to the polls on "HUD-financed buses."
In another conversation, Beason used the word "aborigines" to refer to people at Greenetrack, a casino in predominately black Greene County.
Thompson said such statements "demonstrate a deep-seated racial animus and a desire to suppress black votes."
Although Thompson criticized the two key prosecution witnesses, he ruled for prosecutors in the order, saying statements of alleged co-conspirators could be admitted at trial.
Thompson found there was evidence that the defendants participated in a bribery scheme. He said it is up to jurors to decide if it the evidence meetings the beyond a reasonable doubt standard.
Thompson said McGregor had enormous financial motive to bribe legislators, and he said "evidence indicates that McGregor was aware that (Ronnie) Gilley was offering funds from his loan to lawmakers in the form of illicit bribes."
"Just as the racist statements of the government's witnesses speak for themselves, much of the evidence against the defendants stands on its own," Thompson wrote.