Pubdate: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 Source: Sun Herald (MS) Copyright: 2004, The Sun Herald Contact: http://www.sunherald.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/432 Author: Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/edwin+edwards EDWARDS' LAWYERS: JUDGE ON PAIN PILLS BATON ROUGE - Edwin Edwards' lawyers lodged new allegations Wednesday in their attempts to free the former Louisiana governor, including claims that painkillers may have hindered the judge's abilities in the corruption case. Defense attorney Mike Small said further details about jurors, witnesses and the judge show the trial was "grossly unfair," Edwards did not have all the necessary information to properly defend himself and the guilty verdict should be dismissed. Edwards was convicted in May 2000, along with his son Stephen and three other men, of extorting applicants for riverboat casino licenses in Louisiana. He is serving a 10-year sentence at a federal prison in Fort Worth. The motions filed in a Baton Rouge federal court seek to overturn the conviction and sentence and remove the presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola, and a judge who made earlier rulings in the case, U.S. District Judge John Parker. Defense attorneys said they had new information that showed: . Polozola may have been heavily medicated during the trial, under the influence of strong painkillers for a back injury that could have impaired his judgment. Earlier reported court records show Polozola was filling a prescription for the narcotic painkiller OxyContin during a period in 1999 when he was making pretrial decisions in the Edwards case. . Prosecutors failed to explain the full details of a plea agreement made with a key witness in the case, former casino owner Robert Guidry, that proved Guidry had a financial motive to testify against Edwards. . One juror was biased against Edwards because she believed he failed to use his influence to aid in the investigation of her 2-year-old daughter's death. And another juror said he was told that if the jury didn't reach a verdict, the jurors could be prosecuted and jailed. . Prosecutors used a conflicting theory about evidence in the riverboat case when they presented the information in a separate, related trial for one of Edwards' codefendants. . Prosecutors didn't tell Edwards that a second witness, John Brotherton, was writing a book at the time about his role in the Edwards case that described Brotherton's financial problems and provided a motive to testify against Edwards. Edwards' lawyers filed the motion to vacate the conviction and sentence only a week before the Feb. 24 deadline to make such a request. Dozens of pages of documents deal with Polozola's possible impairments because of the painkillers he was prescribed after a 1997 car accident. Polozola filed a lawsuit after the accident, and his deposition in the civil case was sealed. Edwards' lawyers want to see the deposition, acknowledging they don't know the extent of Polozola's use of the painkiller during and after the trial or whether it altered his judgment. In other documents, defense lawyers said Guidry testified in the riverboat trial that he did not have immunity from the state's ability to recover financial penalties up to $214 million for his role in the corruption scheme. However, Small said Guidry indicated in testimony in a separate proceeding after the trial that he had a "guarantee" from the federal government that he would be limited to a $3.5 million fine outlined in his plea agreement. Edwards' attorneys said they also have information that several jurors "engaged in misconduct" before deliberations including: a juror's spouse reporting to the juror what happened when the jury was out of the courtroom, jurors saying they had their minds made up early in the case and jurors watching TV, reading newspapers and discussing the case despite instruction not to do so. Lawyers for Edwards also asked for the ability to question Juror 68, who was dismissed from the case after stalling deliberations, and to review a letter from that juror's attorney which has been sealed. Edwards was convicted of racketeering, extortion and fraud in the scheme to rig the riverboat casino licensing during his fourth and final term in office. Businessman Bobby Johnson, cattleman Cecil Brown and former Edwards aide Andrew Martin also were convicted. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin