Rep. Jefferson wants trial delayed

Rep. William Jefferson’s lawyers, citing the mountain of evidence and documents prosecutors have amassed against the Louisiana Democrat, are asking the presiding judge for a two- to four-month delay of his trial, which is set to begin Jan. 16.

Jefferson will make his case for postponing the trial before U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III on Dec. 14. The nine-term congressman is accused of taking more than $500,000 in bribes and demanding millions more for himself and his family members from 11 different companies interested in securing business contracts in Africa.

{mosads}The defense lawyers argued that the sheer number of charges, the complexity of the case, the volume of material produced, and the need to review recorded conversations attained through wiretaps make it impossible to prepare in an adequate manner by mid-January. They point out that even though FBI informant Lori Mody instigated the investigation in March 2005, prosecutors did not begin to turn over the materials she attained to the defense until Aug. 28.

“Mr. Jefferson’s attorneys have been working diligently on this matter since the date of the indictment, but given the amount of work involved, it has been impossible to catch up to the government’s two-year head start,” they wrote in a memo filed with the court on Monday.

The request comes just days after Ellis rejected an effort by Jefferson to move his trial out of northern Virginia.

Jefferson and his attorneys had argued that prosecutors unfairly brought charges against him in suburban Alexandria rather than D.C. because they wanted a venue where fewer blacks are in the jury pool.

Ellis has scheduled an evidentiary hearing later this month on Jefferson’s request to suppress evidence seized and statements he made to investigators in August 2005, when the FBI raided his New Orleans home.

The defense contends that agents went beyond the scope of the search warrant by taking photographs of Jefferson’s personal records. They also argue that the manner in which Jefferson was questioned amounted to detaining him against his will.