Mayor Larry Langford Guilty On All Counts

Well, the case is over and surprise surprise, Langford was found guilty for his role in the destruction of Jefferson County Alabama:

TUSCALOOSA | Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford’s has been found guilty on all counts and faces up to 805 years in prison in his federal corruption trial.Langford spoke to the press for nearly 20 minutes after the verdict was returned, blaming racism, an inattentive jury, an over reaching federal government and the media, singling out The Tuscaloosa News' coverage of the Greenetrack lawsuit, for his conviction.

"Only in Alabama can a black man not get a fair trial," Langford's wife Melva said.Langford said he plans to appeal his conviction.Prosecutors, in their closing arguments to the jury, described Langford as a power-drunk, corrupt politician who willingly took thousands of dollars in cash and gifts in exchange for steering million of dollars of Jefferson County business to a Montgomery investment banker.

“This was a deliberate course of action for nearly five years,” said Assistant U.S. District Attorney Tamara Matthews Johnson.

Racism, I suppose shopping sprees to New York went over real well with the jury. Anyway Langford's defense consisted of 5 witnesses who tried to paint a picture of honest hard working man with one of the witnesses who ended up doing damage to Langford anyway:

Two of the defense attorneys — a 90-year-old retired librarian and a Fairfield pastor — spoke of the mayor’s character and honesty.The defense called the others in an attempt to poke holes in five days of prosecution testimony that depicted Langford as a corrupt shopaholic who owed more than $77,000 in income taxes and took $236,000 in cash and gifts in exchange for funneling Jefferson County bond business to the firm of Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount.

One of the defense witnesses, FBI Special Agent Tom Mayhall, worked with federal prosecutors in building a case against Langford.Under questioning from Langford attorney Michael Rasmussen, Mayhall testified that Blount, who was indicted alongside Langford last year, never said Langford complained to him of his financial problems.

Langford also never asked Blount for any specific gift, Mayhall said. Instead, he said, Langford would admire items in expensive stores and Blount would purchase them.However, when questioned by government prosecutor George Martin, Mayhall said Langford would tell Blount he wanted to visit specific, high-priced stores in Birmingham and New York City.

More from the Times:

Larry Langford, the controversial and flamboyant mayor of Birmingham, Ala., was convicted of multiple counts of bribery in a federal corruption trial in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday.

A jury took less than two hours to determine that as president of the Jefferson County Commission, Mr. Langford accepted more than $230,000 in cash, expensive clothing and jewelry in exchange for steering $7.1 million in county bond business to a prominent investment banker.

The bonds and debt restructuring destabilized the finances of the county, which includes Birmingham, and its sewer system, helping to push the county to the brink of bankruptcy last year.

Under Alabama law, the felony convictions automatically terminated Mr. Langford’s mayoralty. Carole Smitherman, who was the president of the City Council, immediately became the mayor of the city, Alabama’s largest.

“This, too, will pass,” Mr. Langford said after the verdict, maintaining his innocence.State Representative Patricia Todd of Birmingham said the conviction proved the need for statewide ethics reform. “I hope that every elected official learns that you can’t accept these kinds of gifts without the person wanting something in return,” Ms. Todd said. “Shame on him for violating the public trust and thinking he’s above the law.”

Prosecutors said Mr. Langford, a Democrat, was in debt and turned to Al LaPierre, a lobbyist. Mr. LaPierre, they said, was a middleman who funneled money from the investment banker, Bill Blount, a former chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.Defense lawyers tried to portray Mr. Langford as a talented politician with a spending problem, and suggested that the gifts were actually loans.

Mr. Langford, who is either 61 or 63 (records are not consistent), was convicted on all 60 counts against him, which could carry a sentence of more than 800 years. He will also forfeit $241,000.