VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor asks that vote-buying case be dismissed

MONTGOMERY, Al.

McGregor

A lawyer for VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor today asked a federal judge to dismiss the State House vote-buying case before it goes to trial, again arguing that the grand jury that indicted McGregor was given faulty instructions.

Defense lawyer Ben Espy wrote in a court filing the the grand jury should have been instructed that for an indictment they needed to find an "explicit" agreement that McGregor and politicians agreed to swap campaign donations for votes.


"There is grave doubt whether the grand jury would have indicted if it had been instructed on the law of quid pro quo," Espy wrote.

McGregor and others were charged with vote-buying in the Alabama Legislature. Prosecutors alleged McGregor and others offered and accepted bribes -- mostly in the form of campaign contributions -- for votes on a gambling bill.

A second trial is scheduled for January after the first ended in a mistrial and the acquittal of two defendants.


McGregor in another court filing Monday also sought to limit prosecutors' use of putting FBI agent on the witness stand to interpret wire-tapped calls for jurors. Espy wrote that the conversations are straightforward and jurors can interpret them themselves.

"There is no 'code' here. There was just the English language,"  Espy wrote.