State lawyer wants to block former Gov. Bob Riley from testifying in bingo trial

Bob Riley

MONTGOMERY, Al.
A state lawyer has asked a federal judge to block defense efforts to put former Gov. Bob Riley on the witness stand in the second State House vote-buying trial.
A lawyer with the Alabama Attorney General's Office filed the motion today seeking to quash the subpoenas issued to Riley and Chris Murphy, Riley's former director of public safety.
VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor, Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb, two former state senators and three others are scheduled to go on trial on charges of offering or accepting bribes in connection to a gambling bill before lawmakers in 2010. This will be the second trial, after jurors this summer were unable to reach a decision on many of the charges.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew D. Arrington wrote that Riley has no personal knowledge about the acts that McGregor and the other defendants are accused of committing. Additionally, Arrington said any discussions between Riley and state law enforcement officials are protected.
Riley while in office contended the electronic bingo machines operated by McGregor and others were illegal under state law and used the threat of raids to shut down the casinos.
"The fact that these state law enforcement officials were investigating illegal gambling at the same time as the alleged vote buying was occurring does not establish the relevance or materiality of their testimony," Arrington wrote.
"To prevent the quashal of their subpoenas, the defendants must establish that these former state officials have 'direct personal factual information' about a matter that is relevant or material to this case and that such factual information cannot be introduced through other means. Unless and until defendants make that showing -- in camera if necessary -- the former state officials should be relieved from complying with the subpoena," Arrington wrote.
If the subpoenas are not quashed, then the scope of Riley's testimony should be limited, Arrington argued.
Defense lawyers tried to force Riley to testify at the first trial, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Terry Moorer ruled McGregor's lawyers failed to show why Riley's testimony would be relevant.