http://www.ktbs.com/news/Prosecutor-Jud ... tem-12260/Caddo Parish Judges Michael Walker and Vernon Claville put a price on justice and corrupted the legal system by taking bribes to do favors for friends, the lead prosecutor in the federal case against them told the jury this afternoon.
Defendants who went to the right bondsman could buy influence to get bonds reduced, low bonds set or court holds lifted and get out of jail.
"When it came to these two judges, justice was for sale in Caddo Parish, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan told the jury during a 36-minute opening statement in Shreveport.
Walker, who presided over drug cases in Caddo District Court, and Claville, a juvenile court judge, are accused of taking bribes from bondsmen who wanted to get clients out of jail. Prosecutors said they will prove their case through the testimony of bondsmen who delivered the bribes, intercepted cell phone conversations and videotaped meetings showing bribes being paid.
The two judges categorically denied taking bribes and said all judges reduce bonds.
Walker’s lawyer, Daryl Gold, said Walker was a new kind of judge who rankled some of the powers-that-be in law enforcement, who were used to "astronomical" bonds against drug defendants.
Walker was more reasonable and tried to help young people who got in trouble for using drugs -- but dealt harshly with drug dealers, Gold told the jury during his 24-minute opening statement.
The bondsman who is a central part of the government’s case "never paid one bribe to Michael Walker," Gold said.
Walker is the major part of the government’s case. Flanagan told the jury Walker would get a call from Travis McCullouch, a friend and associate of a bondsman, arrange a meeting to get a bribe and then call the jail and order a bond reduced - all in quick succession, Flanagan said. Money was used for gambling.
The FBI on three occasions gave McCullouch bribe money, wiretapped the phone calls to Walker, videotaped their meetings and then pulled the marked money out of casino machines and table games, Flanagan said.
Two of the bribes were $500; one was for $400, he said.
"You will hear the crime being committed. You will see the crime being committed," Flanagan told the jury.
McCullouch began cooperating with the FBI after he was busted for drugs, Gold said - telling the jury McCullouch would say what the government wanted to save himself.
Gold said Walker and McCullouch were friends for more than 20 years and were like brothers. They frequently loaned each other money, he said.
"If Travis McCullouch needed a favor from Michael Walker, he didn’t need to pay him.
Claville’s lawyer, Jack Bailey, said Claville took no bribes. He lifted hundreds of holds during his career as a judge, Bailey said - all done in the best interests of children and not for any bribes.
