UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Judge sets Jefferson's trial date

|
 
Published: June 13, 2008 at 8:06 PM

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 13 (UPI) -- The federal corruption case of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., will begin Dec. 2, a judge announced Friday.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III set the date the same day he refused a request by the Democratic congressman's attorneys for a change in venue from Virginia to Washington, D.C., the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

His lawyers argued that prosecutors chose Virginia because it has a smaller proportion of African-American jurors to consider the black congressman's case.

One of Jefferson's attorneys, Robert Trout, accused the Justice Department of "purposeful discrimination" in bringing the case in Virginia, the newspaper reported.

However, Ellis said he found no evidence that the government had manipulated events to hold the trial in Virginia.

Jefferson faces charges of bribery, racketeering and conspiracy in connection with business deals he was assisting in Africa.

Topics: T.S. Ellis, T.S. Ellis III, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 17
Tornado recover efforts underway in Moore, Oklahoma
View Caption
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin talks to victims from the May 20 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma, May 22, 2013. The EF-5 tornado cut a path of destruction approximately 17 miles by 1.3 miles wide and left 24 people dead. UPI/J.P. Wilson
fark
Amidst allegations that he smokes crack, the Mayor of Toronto has been fired. FARK: As high school...
You don't have to be drunk and homeless to direct buses for NJ Transit. But it helps
FBI makes arrest in Washington State ricin case. Dammit, Walter
2 FBI Agents involved in Dzhokar Tsarnaev's arrest fall from helicopter and die. Strange tag trumps...
Snake-handling police officer hit by his own patrol car
McDonalds drop their highest-calorie bomb ever on Japan. Too soon?