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DEL.ICIO.USMinister allowed to testify for Campbell
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Prosecutors lost a battle today to keep a defense witness from testifying in former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell’s federal corruption trial.
U.S. District Judge Richard Story said it was a close call but he decided to allow Campbell’s team to bring in the Rev. O.L. Blackshear, a minister whose daughter was murdered in 1997 during an armed robbery.
Campbell used $2,000 of his campaign money to offer a reward for the arrest of the gunman who fatally shot Gwendolyn Blackshear Wyche in the back for her purse.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Vineyard agreed to stipulate the mayor funded the reward through campaign funds but said there was no need to bring the father to the stand.
It “falls into good deeds of the mayor� and could unfairly prejudice the jury, Vineyard argued.
Lead defense attorney Billy Martin, however, said Blackshear’s testimony should be allowed since prosecutors got to bring in their own prejudicial testimony attacking the mayor’s character.
“The testimony of Marion Brooks was so prejudicial,� Martin said of Campbell’s former female acquaintance who testified about expensive gifts from Campbell and trips taken with him. “We agreed on every date that was traveled, every expense that was paid� yet prosecutors still brought her to the stand, the defense attorney argued.
The judge agreed to allow the minister to testify but said, “I think it’s dangerous grounds.�
Story instructed the attorneys to avoid asking the father to describe the murder or other emotional details that could play on the sympathies of jurors.
Blackshear could testify later today.
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