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Monday, March 13, 2006
Ex-Campbell aide defends testimony
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dewey Clark, one of the key prosecution witnesses in the federal corruption trial of former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, said he told the truth when he testified Campbell accepted bribes, despite a jury finding Campbell guilty of only tax evasion.
Clark, who has known the former mayor for two decades, who lived with for six years and was his personal assistant, said Campbell and his attorneys tried to set him up to take the fall in the corruption case.
“I was not going to go to jail, I was not going to lie for Bill Campbell when he was trying to turn the whole thing on me,” Clark said on the Frank Ski and Wanda Morning Show on V-103. “I was betrayed by the mayor.”
A jury acquitted Campbell of corruption in the seven-count indictment against him but found him guilty of three counts of tax evasion for not reporting $147,000 of outside income while in office. Sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Story is expected within several months.
During the trial Clark testified that he personally gave the mayor about $50,000 in bribes from a strip club owner seeking a business license.
He said he was surprised when the FBI began questioning him about alleged corruption. “I never went to the feds, but when they came to me, I was willing to cooperate,” he said. But he said he was only willing to cooperate after he felt he was being set up for Campbell and his attorneys.
“I would have taken charges for the mayor if the mayor had asked me,” Clark said. “He never asked me to take charges. What he did was he tried to set me up so I could take the whole downfall.” Clark said he was so adamant about telling the truth that he talked to the government 26 times without an attorney.
“I hope God himself will take me, throw my soul in the deepest pit of hell if I’ve lied on Bill Campbell,” Clark said on V103.
Clark was one of several people involved in the trial, including U.S. Attorney David Nahmias and two jurors, who were interviewed by Frank Ski on V-103. Nahmias also spoke earlier to Rick Blalock on WAOK-AM, V103’s sister station on the AM dial.
Ski, a staunch supporter of the mayor, repeatedly said that Campbell would appear on the radio show as the former mayor had done before the trial began eight weeks ago. But after Clark’s interview, which was added at the last minute, the radio host announced that Campbell’s attorneys were “adamant” in advising the former mayor not to appear. Ski didn’t specifically single out Clark’s comments as being the reason Campbell decided not to appear. He only referred to “powerful” comments throughout the morning.
Asked if he could say something to Campbell, whom he said he hadn’t seen in five years, before he was called to testify, Clark said he would tell him to tell the truth.
Two unidentified jurors who appeared on the radio show said Campbell was not convicted of corruption because prosecutors had not proven their case. They also said they had difficulty believing Clark and the government’s witnesses, several of whom had plea deals with the prosecution. It was a detail on which defense attorneys repeatedly reminded jurors.
“There was some evidence that they presented that made it seem like they were out to get him, but the evidence was not enough to get him,” one juror on the radio said. “We couldn’t believe the witnesses. They had so many plea deals.”
Over the weekend, three other jurors, including the foreman, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they were close to convicting Campbell of racketeering but confusion over a date when he allegedly accepted a bribe prompted them to give Campbell the benefit of a doubt. To be convicted of corruption, Campbell would have had to be found guilty of two of 11 acts alleged by the government under the federal racketeering law. He was found guilty of only one of those acts — mail fraud related to using campaign contributions for personal reasons.
Campbell’s personal attorney, Michael Coleman, who also appeared on V103 today, chafed at a suggestion that Campbell barely beat the corruption charges because the jury was confused about certain aspects of the case.
“To suggest that the mayor squeaked by is misleading at best,” Coleman said. He also said Campbell is very concerned about the tax fraud conviction.
“He is chargrined and recognized that they have serious consequences,” Campbell said.
Earlier on V103, Nahmias, the U.S. attorney, defended the six-year investigation into corruption at City Hall under Campbell’s watch. He said prosecutors were not targeting Campbell for personal reasons and that it was obligated to launch an investigation after it received allegations of wrongdoing.
Nahmias also said there was no “army” of government staffers on the case.
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