Traficant juror changes his mind; now convinced conviction was wrong

The Plain Dealer ^ | 07/20/02 | Sabrina Eaton and John Caniglia

[BJungNan]

Please, give us the details in this trial. 'Cause what we have now is this:

1). A former secret service agent speaking out in favor of Traficant when he has a lot more to gain by being quiet.
2). A witness that says that had he heard this agents testimony, testimony the judge in the trial would not allow in, he would not have voted to convict.

Forget the pointless matter of whether I will get over it or not. Blather is not a substitute for a well supported position. Please, what do you have on this? What is the overwhelming evidence?

[Anchoragite]

**Did you know that he was a sheriff in Mahoning County, Ohio before he was elected to congress? That he was accused of taking bribes from the mob? That he was acquitted of those charges, but had to pay the IRS for the money anyway?**

That is a pretty broad statement. You need to back this up. There are a lot of people that have run across the IRS and had to pay them. This hardly rises to the level of the charges you leveled against Traficant in your original post.

This is correct. I lived in Youngstown when Traficant was elected to Congress. And 60 Minutes did a story about him, showing that after his acquittal, the IRS came after the money, leaving him the poorest congressman on capital hill. His first few years, he lived on a leaking houseboat he rented there. The man doesn't have a lot of money, was never a power player. Not the brightest guy, but not an intentional crook (in his history) either.

[Dog Gone]

You're not going to bait me into this argument. The trial was well publicized, and I'm not interested in providing the details you apparently missed. Look them up yourself.

I frankly don't care about the case anymore. It won't even bother me if you deem my lack of interest a victory for your position. Feel free.

[Anchoragite]

Trafficant is a TRUE Independent. He often votes with Republicans.....that is why the DNC has harrassed him for 20 years. I don't think he's any worse than any other member....I think he's been framed.

Democrats have been hounding him for more than 20 years. Part of Traficant's problems began when he was Sherrif, where he had very public and long-standing differences of opinion with the chairman of the Mahoning Valley Democratic organization (Don Hanni, who still owns the chair). It was surmised at the time that this may have had something to do with his original charges, but no links were ever officially drawn.

[LarryLied]

Did you see DeTore at the House hearing? I missed the trial but DeTore being muscled not to testify at it means itwas not a fair trail. It was fixed. Difficult to describehere but it is impossible for anyone to have listened to DeTore and not believe he was telling the absolute truth. He had nothing to gain. His lawyers even told him not to testify before congress. DeTore's first lawyer, Plato Cacheris (who he could not keep because of the fee), made it clear to him the government was out to get Trafficant and anyone who refused to give the testimony they wanted would have a dime dropped on them.

[Ready2go]

What evidence? Please share it with us.

[Dog Gone]

You're right. There was no evidence, and all those news stories posted here were imaginary.

[Ready2go]

For anyone that wants to hear more from the jurist...he's going to be on Hannity & Colmes tonight.

[BJungNan]

You're not going to bait me into this argument...

No one is trying to bait you into anything. Please excuse me, I thought this was a discussion board.

[Ready2go]

BUMP

[SoCar]

Just saw Mr. Glaser on H&C. I'm so glad this is finally starting to come out. Today I called Hastert's office and asked for a postponent of the expulsion vote. Tomorrow I will call my Congressman again as well as the two mentioned in the article. DeTore's testimony should be getting more coverage. Something stinks here!

[brat]

My God, B4! That's frightening. Its also why I admire Trafficant.

[B4Ranch]

Check out #27