street corner a heart breaks
marika
June 17, 2009
Jefferson Day 2: Businessman Who Pleaded Guilty Testifies
By Jordan Weissmann
The legal team defending former Rep. William Jefferson has had a rough day
so far at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. The trial judge has
consistently overruled its objections to testimony from one of the
government's top witnesses.
Prosecutors just spent the morning and early afternoon questioning Vernon
Jackson, the Louisville, Ky., engineer whose company, iGate, has been at the
center of the Jefferson scandal. Jackson, who is serving a prison term after
pleading guilty to charges that he bribed the Louisiana Democrat, first took
the stand yesterday. He told the jury that he initially approached Jefferson
for help promoting his company, which sold technology that would speed up
Internet access across copper phone lines.
Jefferson, Jackson said, suggested that iGate hire a consulting company
owned and run by the congressman's wife, Andrea. Jackson signed a contract
that would pay the consulting company a monthly fee of $7,500, plus a
percentage of any capital the consultants raised and stock in iGate. Jackson
testified that he later found out that the consulting company had not been
incorporated until after he signed the agreement.
Jackson testified he quickly concluded that Jefferson's wife was not doing
any work for iGate, and that he was essentially paying for Jefferson's
services as a congressman.
Defense attorney Robert Trout, name partner of Trout Cacheris, objected when
prosecutors asked Jackson whether Jefferson was working on iGate's behalf as
a congressman or as a private businessman.
Trout said it was only relevant what Jefferson said at the time, not what
Jackson believed. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebeca Bellows said the testimony
spoke to charges that Jefferson was part of a conspiracy. Judge T.S. Ellis
III agreed.
Trout tried unsuccessfully several more times to object to Bellows'
questions, such as whether Jackson knew that money he sent to foreign
officials at Jefferson's urging was a kickback. Ellis overruled him all but
once, when prosecutors asked Jackson whether Jefferson had been "honest" in
a letter he had written.