For clues to whats ahead for John Wiley Price, look to New Orleans



Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price pleaded not guilty in July to federal bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud charges, nearly identical to those listed in an indictment of former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Clues to the Justice Departments years-long investigation against Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price were all along on full display in a strikingly similar case unfolding 500 miles southeast of Dallas.

Just 16 days before authorities unveiled an 11-count indictment of Price on July 25, a federal judge sentenced former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to 10 years in prison on nearly identical charges.

Now legal experts both there and in Dallas say the Nagin trial offers the best road map available for divining the path ahead for Price and his prosecutors.

Price, a Democrat in office since 1985 and a iconic figure to the countys African-Americans, is accused of conspiracy, mail fraud, theft of honest services and tax fraud. The charges are nearly identical to those contained in a 21-count indictment of Nagin.

A jury convicted Nagin of 20 counts in February, concluding he had received more than $300,000 in cash, free travel and other payments in return for steering city decisions in favor of businesses making those payments.

Prices 107-page indictment accuses him of a similar pay-to-play conspiracy. Often using intermediaries, the government says, Price was paid nearly $1 million in cash and other items to give favorable treatment to firms making the payments.

Nagin, like Price, insisted he was innocent. He told jurors the payments were for legitimate business.

They didnt believe him.

They had Nagin nine ways to Sunday, said defense attorney Joe Rasponti, who served as a legal analyst for broadcast media during Nagins trial. “He was delusional in a sense, and he really believed he could charm his way off the witness stand.

Now it will be Price asking jurors to believe the payments were legitimate.

Of course thats going to be his argument, said New Orleans attorney defense Donald Forey, who also intently followed the Nagin trial. “That, sure, they look bad, but they werent bribes. They were somehow legitimate payments.

Matthew Orwig, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said the question for jurors is always the same in corruption cases.

In the end, the jury is going to have to guess what was in the mind of a particular defendant when they took the action they took, Orwig said. Did they intend to make it a bribe or not?

But Nagin would eventually let down many of his supporters when he became New Orleans first mayor sentenced to prison. He is scheduled to begin serving his 10-year federal prison sentence on Sept. 8 in Texarkana, Texas.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20140823-for-clues-to-whats-ahead-for-john-wiley-price-look-to-new-orleans.ece

This county commissioner blocked a 20 million dollar freight distribution center that would have employed 35000 in his district.
The reason? The management firm refused to pay his "advisors" fee.

And he was re-elected.

not the only one who got re-elected!

Yea, and they would keep gettin re-elected until the FBI steps in.