Free Republic

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) Jurors in a federal vote fraud case will decide in the coming weeks whether East St. Louis Democratic Committee leaders attempted to buy votes in the November elections, or if committee members were set up, as a defense attorney alleges. Committee Chairman Charles Powell Jr. and others are accused of trying to buy the election using cash, liquor and cigarettes. But Powell's lawyer Bruce Cook said in opening statements Tuesday that ``the FBI engaged in picking sides during an election'' by arresting his client two weeks before he was up for re-election to the City...