By Jay Reeves, Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – A veteran state legislator went on federal trial Monday in what prosecutors said was a conspiracy to fleece taxpayers of thousands of dollars by taking bribes in exchange for directing state grants to a preacher's community programs.
A prosecutor told jurors that state Sen. E.B. McClain, D-Midfield, sent some $758,000 in grants to a private foundation run by the Rev. Samuel Pettagrue, who allegedly paid him kickbacks totaling $306,000 for the money, which was supposed to help the community.
"This case boils down to one thing: Influence," William C. Athanas, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in opening statements.
Pointing at the defense table, Athanas said: "That man sitting right there, Sen. McClain, sold it. That man sitting right there, Rev. Pettagrue, bought it."
Lawyers for McClain and Pettagrue denied any crime occurred. Pettagrue's group, the Heritage to Hope Foundation, got the grant money legally and legally paid McClain for work that included marketing and planning, they said.
"The evidence will show these payments are business, not bribes," said John Robbins, representing McClain.
A lawyer for Pettagrue, Richard Jaffe, portrayed his client as a dedicated church leader who was first approached by McClain with the offer of grant money and asked then and later, "Is this legal? Is this ethical?" Pettagrue was assured at the time the transfer was proper, he said.
"What Rev. Pettagrue knows now, he did not know then," Jaffe told jurors.
Some of the grants were for Pettagrue's foundation to work with a program to train school dropouts to get their Graduate Equivalency Diplomas. Other funds were to help senior citizens.
McClain, 68, and Pettagrue, 65, were indicted in May on charges of bribery, conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering.
The indictment resulted from a federal and state investigation into corruption in Alabama's two-year college system. Athanas said much of the grant money came from the state Department of Postsecondary Education, which oversees two-year colleges.
An investigation of the two-year college system previously resulted in a guilty plea from one legislator and a deadlocked jury in the trial of another. Roy Johnson, the former chancellor of the system, is among several employees who pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors sought to link McClain and Pettagrue in a conspiracy, arguing both had major roles in an illegal bribery scheme.
"This is a two-person operation. Neither of these men could be a success on their own," said Athanas.
Pettagrue's lawyer tried to distance his client from the legislator, however, portraying him as being unfamiliar with McClain's world of politics.
"A verdict for one is not a verdict for the other," said Jaffe.
U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre said testimony would begin Tuesday.