Posted on 02/24/2008 5:47:10 AM PST by Libloather
Prison break
By Bruce Alpert and Bill Walsh
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Vernon Jackson and Brett Pfeffer, key figures in the federal prosecution of Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, were released recently from federal prison -- but it was only temporary. Their release from federal prison facilities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia was ordered so that they could testify at Jefferson's federal corruption trial. But with the trial, which had been scheduled to begin Monday, postponed while a federal appellate court considers an appeal of a pretrial ruling, from Jefferson's attorneys, it's likely they will be returned to their prison cells shortly. The federal marshals' service had contracted with a local jail near Alexandria, Va., where the Jefferson case is being heard, to house the pair during the trial. Jackson and Pfeffer pleaded guilty to participating in what the government says was a bribery scheme in which Jefferson was to help Jackson's company, iGate Inc., win telecommunications contracts in western Africa. Jackson was sentenced to seven years, three months in prison, while Pfeffer, a former aide to Jefferson, got an eight-year sentence. The government is expected to ask Judge T.S. Ellis III to reduce the sentences, but only after Pfeffer and Jackson testify and the Jefferson trial is over. Jefferson has pleaded innocent.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
C’mon, the guy’s an African-american Dem with a ton of incriminating evidence, short of a video of him snorting coke in a hotel room, being weighed against him - he’s gotta walk. It’s not as if there is DNA evidence proving his guilt, or anything, don’t ‘cha know.
...and when he walks, I’m sure the two guys sitting in prison for the past year are gonna have that year given back to them somehow. Yea, right!
If there’s no crime, what are they doing in jail?
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