BOGALUSA, La. -- City Councilman Danny Stogner pleaded guilty to four election fraud charges Thursday in the Washington Parish Courthouse in Franklinton.
Stogner is now expected to testify against Bogalusa Mayor Mack McGehee in his trial in May.
The charges against Stogner include Bribery of a Withdrawn Candidate and Criminal Conspiracy.
He was given a one-year suspended sentence and one-year probation, plus ordered to serve 40 8-hour days of community service and pay a $1,000 fine.
"We felt that was the best thing to do," said Buddy Spell, Stogner's attorney. "That was the honest thing to do and Danny insisted he do the honest thing."
Stogner is expected to tell his story in court. He first told Eyewitness News his story back in August. The charges center around the 2008 election for Bogalusa Marshal, a race between Wayne Adams and Dennard Kates.
According to Stogner, Mayor McGehee talked to him about the race.
"He asked me to go speak with a candidate that was running against Mister Adams and ask him if he would withdraw from the race. I did," Stogner said back in August.
"When I drove him (Kates) to Franklinton, and he officially withdrew from the race, the Mayor told me to meet him at Bogalusa Country Club,” he said. “He handed me an envelope. It was sealed. He said, ‘Deliver this to Mr. Kates for me,” and I did, and when I was sitting there with Mr. Kates, he opened it and said, 'Man, this is money in here.' I think it was somewhere around a thousand dollars, if I'm not mistaken."
Kates, Adams and McGehee now all face charges in the case, and were all in Franklinton for a motions hearing Thursday.
Washington Parish Assistant District Attorney Jack Hoffstadt was prepared to play recorded statements from all the defendants in court Thursday, but that part of the proceeding was delayed until the next motions hearing April 7.
From the beginning, Danny Stogner maintained he was the whistleblower in this case, not the bad guy.
"But for Danny's confession, no one would have never known that these activities took place. Now that I've seen the state's case, I believe something happened and I believe my client and he just wanted to come clean with it," said Spell.
The attorney for Mayor McGehee said he didn’t think Stogner’s testimony would hurt his client.
"I really don't think it has much effect at all on us," said attorney Marion Farmer.
“I was a little bit surprised that he did that, but that was his decision to make, I really don't think that's going to have much effect at all in connection with our situation."
Farmer and the attorneys representing Kates and Adams now have 15 days to decide if they'll ask for a jury trial, or let a judge decide.
The trial is set for May 24.
