Kevin McGill / The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- Former state Rep. Renee Gill Pratt was critical to a criminal scheme in which members of the once-powerful family of a disgraced former congressman enriched themselves at government expense, often with money meant for charitable causes, a federal prosecutor told a jury in Gill Pratt's retrial.
Gill Pratt's defense lawyer said the government is out to get the former legislator and City Council member because of her long political alliance with former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and his family, including her personal romantic relationship with the congressman's brother, the late New Orleans political operative Mose Jefferson.
"It put her in the crosshairs of the government's campaign to bring down the Jeffersons," Mike Fawer said just before testimony began Wednesday.
Gill Pratt is being retried on a racketeering conspiracy charge after a hung jury led to a mistrial in February. The conspiracy allegedly included diverting state appropriations that were meant to go for anti-drug counseling, help for teenage parents and adult education. Mose, his sister Betty Jefferson, a former tax assessor, and Betty's daughter Angela Coleman actually used the money for themselves, prosecutors said.
"Their outright theft of public funds would not have been possible without Renee Gill Pratt," Assistant District Attorney Brian Marcelle told the jury.
Although his name figured in opening arguments, William Jefferson is not charged in the Gill Pratt case. He is appealing a criminal conviction in an unrelated case. Mose Jefferson was a co-defendant with Gill Pratt. He died recently of cancer. Betty Jefferson and Angela Coleman have pleaded guilty in the Gill Pratt case and are expected to testify against her.
Betty Jefferson is a former tax assessor for New Orleans. She pleaded guilty last year to charges including conspiracy to commit mail fraud money laundering, and tax evasion. She and Coleman are set for sentencing Aug. 31. Fawer said jurors should keep in mind that the pair's hope for a lighter sentence might influence their testimony.
The conspiracy also involves allegations that Gill Pratt misappropriated four vehicles that DaimlerChrysler had donated to help the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005; that she steered state grants to two New Orleans schools on the condition that they use the money for a software program from a company for which Mose Jefferson was an exclusive sales agent; and that, as a state lawmaker and later as a New Orleans City Council member, she arranged for state and city funds to pay for her office space at a building owned by Mose Jefferson.
Fawer contended that as a legislator, Gill Pratt had a role in appropriating money but not monitoring its use. After prosecutors focused on Gil Pratt's personal use of a donated Dodge Durango in September 2005, Fawer said that in the chaotic weeks after Katrina, her use of the vehicle during frequent trips between Baton Rouge and New Orleans was proper and legal.
A 12-member jury with two alternates was seated Tuesday. The trial is expected to take two to three weeks.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
