jujuman13
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A former Tennessee legislator charged with extortion took the stand in his own defense Tuesday and denied ever accepting payoffs from two FBI informants.
Former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon testified that he had supported legislation for E-Cycle Management, a bogus company set up by the FBI, as a favor to friends and not for money.
Under questioning from his attorney, Dixon said he had long known and tried to help the government's chief witnesses against him, Barry Myers and Tim Willis. Myers was Dixon's assistant at a community development center and Willis had been active in Memphis politics for years.
Dixon, a Democratic lawmaker for 22 years, said he had tried to help the two establish careers as lobbyists.
He acknowledged accepting $1,000 during a meeting that Willis secretly videotaped in 2004 for the FBI. But he said he thought the total of $6,000 that Willis laid out on a table was intended for Myers for helping lobby on behalf of E-Cycle.
On the tape, Dixon tells Myers: "Throw me one of those stacks, man."
He told jurors he thought Myers intended for that money to go to the financially struggling development center where they both worked.
Myers has pleaded guilty to splitting bribes totaling $9,500 with Dixon and is cooperating with the government.
Dixon was one of five sitting or former state lawmakers arrested in 2005 in an investigation the government called Tennessee Waltz and is the first to go to trial. One of the five, Republican Chris Newton, pleaded guilty, resigned his state House seat and is serving a one-year prison term. The other three are awaiting trial.
Former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon testified that he had supported legislation for E-Cycle Management, a bogus company set up by the FBI, as a favor to friends and not for money.
Under questioning from his attorney, Dixon said he had long known and tried to help the government's chief witnesses against him, Barry Myers and Tim Willis. Myers was Dixon's assistant at a community development center and Willis had been active in Memphis politics for years.
Dixon, a Democratic lawmaker for 22 years, said he had tried to help the two establish careers as lobbyists.
He acknowledged accepting $1,000 during a meeting that Willis secretly videotaped in 2004 for the FBI. But he said he thought the total of $6,000 that Willis laid out on a table was intended for Myers for helping lobby on behalf of E-Cycle.
On the tape, Dixon tells Myers: "Throw me one of those stacks, man."
He told jurors he thought Myers intended for that money to go to the financially struggling development center where they both worked.
Myers has pleaded guilty to splitting bribes totaling $9,500 with Dixon and is cooperating with the government.
Dixon was one of five sitting or former state lawmakers arrested in 2005 in an investigation the government called Tennessee Waltz and is the first to go to trial. One of the five, Republican Chris Newton, pleaded guilty, resigned his state House seat and is serving a one-year prison term. The other three are awaiting trial.
