Hearing set on whether former Gov. Bob Riley can be called to testify in bingo trial

Birmingham, Al.
A federal judge has set a hearing on efforts by VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor to call former Gov. Bob Riley as a witness when McGregor and others are retried on vote-buying charges this winter.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Wallace Capel Jr. set the hearing for Nov. 17.

Former Gov. Bob Riley

A lawyer for Riley is seeking to quash the subpoena, saying that the former governor has no personal information about the acts that McGregor and others are accused of committing. Riley's gambling task force was trying to shut down electronic bingo casinos like the one operated by McGregor, but Riley's lawyer said that does not mean the governor has relevant information about the federal criminal case.
A lawyer for McGregor has said he wants to question Riley about whether there were any connections or communications between federal investigators and his gambling task force.
McGregor and others are accused of offering or accepting bribes in connection with efforts to get an electronic bingo bill approved by Alabama lawmakers. The bill was aimed at writing into the Alabama Constitution that the slot machine look-alikes were legal.
McGregor subpoenaed Riley as a witness in the first gambling corruption trial, which ended in a mistrial in August. But a different federal magistrate blocked that subpoena. McGregor's defense ended up calling no witnesses.