CLEVELAND, April 4 (UPI) -- Rep. James Traficant Jr. called three more witnesses Thursday to testify in his bribery and corruption trial when the judge told him to either find more witnesses, put himself on the stand or begin closing arguments.
The nine-term Ohio Democrat, who is not a lawyer, is defending himself and faces as much as 63 years in prison if convicted on 10 counts of bribery, accepting kickbacks and filing false income tax returns.
Traficant, 60, threatened to boycott the rest of the nine-week trial Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells asked him if he had completed his defense. He shot back that he was not ready to rest, accusing Wells of tainting the jury and turning the Constitution into "toilet paper."
Staff member Betty Manente testified Thursday that she saw Traficant perhaps 10 times during the 17 years she worked at his district office in Trumbull County. Earlier in the trial, she testified that another staffer, George Buccella, had worked on Traficant's horse farm. On Thursday she said that she didn't tell Traficant about Bucella's erratic office hours because she rarely saw the congressman.
Mahoning County political consultant John Vogel testified that Bucella ran an auto speedway and a pizza parlor at the same time he worked for Traficant. Bucella earlier testified that he did free work on Traficant's farm.
Mahoning County Commission David Ludt said a businessman who testified that he had given more than $100,000 in cars, cash and gifts to Traficant over a 10-year period might have had a political falling out with the congressman.
Last week, the judge lectured coarse-talking Traficant about court decorum when he said prosecution lawyers had the "testicles of an ant."
