Word: smaltz
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What happens when you throw a kitchen sink indictment at a high-profile defendant represented by some of the nation's best lawyerly talent? The prosecution can go down the drain -- spectacularly. That's exactly what occurred Wednesday as Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz lost his corruption case against Former Clinton Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. After deliberating for nine hours over two days, a jury acquitted Espy on all 30 counts...
Once favored to become Mississippi's first black Governor, Espy is looking at more than six years in prison if convicted on all counts. But many familiar with the case believe Smaltz is unlikely to convince a jury that the young, personable Espy schemed to defraud the people...
...charges allege that among items Espy accepted were football playoff tickets, plane trips and limousine rides from Tyson Foods; luggage and U.S. Open tennis tickets from Sun-Diamond Growers; and tickets to an N.B.A. championship game. In all, Smaltz values the freebies at $35,458. As the transgressions came to light, the indictment claims, Espy scrambled to conceal them or to make belated reimbursement. He may be most vulnerable to the charge that he had a clerk alter an itinerary for a January 1994 Dallas Cowboys football game to delete references to Tyson before giving the document to investigators. Smaltz...
...down by the time the case goes to trial, possibly next spring or summer. Some charges are based on a law to prevent meat inspectors from being bribed into approving unsavory products--a rarely used statute and one never before applied to a Secretary of Agriculture. Another area where Smaltz may have trouble before a judge or jury: sources close to Tyson say the football tickets and other items were solicited by Espy's then girlfriend, without his direction...
...prove his charges, Smaltz does not need to show that Espy returned favors for gifts he received. But a jury in the District of Columbia, a city known for its skepticism toward government prosecutors, may wonder how much the public good was compromised. Says a Washington lawyer who has gone up against Smaltz: "Espy may have been foolish, stupid, negligent, even reckless. But to indict him for being good-time Charlie and not be able to show a quid pro quo" will hurt Smaltz's case. Smaltz did persuade a court to impose a $1.5 million fine on Sun-Diamond...