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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
3 jurors excused; questioning continues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the first day of jury selection for the federal corruption trial of former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, 3 prospective jurors had been excused by lunchtime. The reasons ranged from one person saying she could not be impartial to another citing job hardships.
U.S. District Judge Richard Story brought in 29 of the nearly 230 potential jurors selected from around the metro area. Campbell’s defense team and federal prosecutors will select 12 to sit in judgement of the former mayor, plus four alternates.
The potential jurors, who are from around the metro area, are not being identified by name or address, only by number.
The jurors are bringing with them either knowledge of the case or already formed opinions.
One heard his family members call the former mayor a crook, and another potential juror said she thinks politicians must live up to higher ethical standards. Among the jurors questioned, seven were white and seven were African-American. Of that group, nine were men and five were women.
Juror No. 8, a white middle-aged woman, said she had changed her mind since filling out the 24-page questionnaire last month that she and others received. At the time, she wrote that she could be fair.
“I got caught up in it,� No. 8 said about filling out the questionaire. “I thought I could be fair. I don’t think I can be.� The judge excused her. Among the others who had been dismissed, one had done landscaping for Campbell, and another said sitting on the jury would be a hardship since he travels a great deal for his job.
Campbell leaned forward with a faint smile sometimes nodding as the potential jurors answered questions posed to them by the judge.
The jurors questioned so far expressed a range of emotions about the case.
Juror No. 2, a white man about 30 who was a volunteer firefighter in Woodstock, said he has heard family members recently refer to Campbell “as a crook.�
The man, who is an inventor of firefighting and medical devices, wants to be excused from the jury because he has a chance to be a participant in a show similar to the popular “American Idol� reality show, in Los Angeles in March. The man said he has seen minorities who have not been treated fairly by law enforcement officials.
Juror No. 6, a woman about 30 who moved to the Atlanta area about 18 months ago, told the court that politicians “have an ethical obligation, and they should be held up to that.�
Billy Martin, Campbell’s lead attorney, said he was “troubled� by two jurors in a row saying, “I will try but I am not sure� they can be fair.
Juror No. 7, a retired black man, said he had a daughter-in-law who had been sent to prison on embezzling charges but thought that the process was fair. He said he knew Ronnie Thornton, an expected witness who illegally contributed to the Campbell campaign, but it was in the 1950s, and Thornton was a boy at the time.
Beth Warren and Mike Morris contributed to this story.
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Campbell arrives for federal corruption trial
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A confident Bill Campbell arrived at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in downtown Atlanta this morning (see photos), calling the opening of jury selection in his federal racketeering trial, “a day I’ve waited for for a long time – the opportunity to clear my name.�
Campbell arrived with his wife, Sharon, attorneys and about 12 supporters. The task of selecting the 12 jurors and four alternates from a pool of nearly 230 was expected to last several days, with the trial getting under way Monday.
The seven-count indictment alleges that Campbell, now 52, managed City Hall as a criminal enterprise, and it accuses him of racketeering, accepting bribes and tax evasion.
Outside the courtroom, Campbell insisted he would be vindicated. “I have good attorneys, I have a supportive family, I have the prayers of so many people from Atlanta, so I’m anxious to move this process forward as quickly as possible and be vindicated,� Campbell said. “It’s something I’ve hoped for many years.�
Sounding as much like a preacher as a politician, Campbell said, “the Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I have great faith in the jury system, so I’m confident of vindication.�
Just before entering U.S. District Court Judge Richard Story’s courtroom about 8:50 a.m., Campbell and his entourage prayed, saying he was innocent of charges that he used his two terms as Atlanta mayor to run a criminal enterprise. They also prayed that God would strengthen his family.
As mayor from 1994 to 2002, the federal indictment contends, Campbell raked in more than $160,000 in payoffs and collected $137,000 in illegal campaign contributions. It also charges that city contractors bankrolled a trip to Paris for Campbell, sent him on gambling junkets and installed a heating and air-conditioning system in his Inman Park home.
If convicted, Campbell faces certain prison time of an estimated four to seven years. Lawyers familiar with the case have said they do not believe that a deal between Campbell and prosecutors is an option.
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