JACKSON - An Oct. 6 trial date has been ordered for Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr., prominent Biloxi attorney Paul Minor and three others indicted last month on federal fraud and bribery charges.
Surrounded by a bevy of lawyers, the five defendants - including the justice's ex-wife, Jennifer, and two former Gulf Coast judges - appeared at a brief hearing Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Jim Sumner where they pleaded innocent to the charges. Each defendant was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.
The defendants, who were indicted on multiple counts, face jail terms ranging between five and 20 years on each of the counts and fines of $250,000 for each count.
The charges against Diaz, Jennifer Diaz and former Harrison County judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield stem from their alleged dealings - dating back to 1998 - with Minor.
The 57-year-old Minor, who faces up to 95 years in prison and $3.25 million in fines, was also indicted on a charge of racketeering. A frequent and large contributor to the campaigns of judges and others, Minor has made millions in several landmark cases, including one against big tobacco companies.
Minor is alleged to have funneled money to and paid off loans for the judges in exchange for favorable court verdicts for his clients that netted Minor hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees. Minor is a former president of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association.
The 16-count indictment says the defendants schemed "to defraud and deprive the state of Mississippi and its citizens of their right" to an honest judicial system.
Diaz's attorney, Robert McDuff, said he will ask the court to reschedule the trial because McDuff has a scheduling conflict with the Oct. 6 trial date.
Whitfield's attorney Michael Crosby said he will file a motion objecting to the court's standard discovery order. The attorneys for the other defendants indicated they will file similar motions.
Minor's attorney, Abbe Lowell of Washington, D.C. - who was part of former President Bill Clinton's defense team during his impeachment hearings - said the attorneys objected to the standard discovery order because "It is not tailored to a particular case. It is sort of a one-size-fits-all."
All the attorneys declined to comment specifically about the charges.
Diaz and Jennifer Diaz, 38, each face up to 25 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines. Whitfield faces up to 30 years and up to $1.25 million in fines. Teel, 52 and a former chancery judge, is facing up to a 20-year prison term and a potential $750,000 in fines.
Crosby, Whitfield's attorney, suggested that the charges against his client were politically motivated. The 41-year-old Whitfield, now an attorney, became the first black circuit judge on the coast when he was 32. He left the bench in December 2000.
"What we're seeing is a criminalization of the political system and the politicization of the criminal (justice) system," Crosby said. "As an elected official, John Whitfield has conducted himself at the highest level of integrity."
The 43-year-old Diaz, appointed to the high court in March 2000 by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to replace a justice who had died, won election in November 2000 to an eight-year term.
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