Kott Trial Day 14 - Prosecution :Closing 1

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska
Court Calendar for Monday, September 24, 2007
Current as of 09/21/2007 at 5:30 PM

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8:30 AM	3:07-CR-00056-01-JWS	Judge Sedwick	Anchorage Courtroom 3
USA vs. PETER KOTT TRIAL BY JURY - DAY 14

Warning: This is a long post. These are my notes for today. Actually, I've shortened it by only posting here the Prosecution's Closing, Part I. I'll post the Defense's closing in the next post, and then the Prosecution's part II. Then I'll try to get some briefer overview stuff for people who can't wade through all this.

Very brief overview of today
[Sept. 25 here is a link to the audio of Goeke's closing. Prosecutor, James Goeke:
- Part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 from the ADN site.]
Goeke began the closing argument for the prosecution. He was very convincing. Then Wendt put on the defense closing. He spoke with passion. Though I thought he was twisting the facts around a lot (I'll try to explain that in a later post) if you didn't listen too closely, you had to believe this guy. His client was a hardworking man and other than drinking to much and saying some stupid things did nothing wrong. [Yes he said all that, I didn't add any editorial comment there.] Wendt had some technical difficulties with his powerpoint, but handled it well. Then Marsh, calm, respectful to all, contradicted what Wendt had just said. His eyes were directed at the jury. A minimum of technical wizzadry. This was not the wonk who did the closing in the Anderson trial, but a sincere and convincing human being.

I've been stalling a while trying to figure out how to post all this stuff. I went by the bike shop to get a new seat post for my winter bike. I got flowers for Joan for putting up with all this blogging. She did come to court today again to see the closing. I ate lunch at home and iced my wrist which has been protesting these marathon typing sessions. In any case, below are my very unofficial transcripts of the case. I've gone through with the spell checker and tried to make it at least legible. But I've left in some typos and abbreviations to remind you that this is a rough, typed as they talked, didn't get it all, but a lot of it, version of what went on in court this morning. pk=Pete Kott rs=Rick Smith ba= Bill Allen eb=Ethan Berkowitz The rest you should be able to figure out. If not, it's probably not that important. Or ask in the comment box.

8:30 - The 8:30 meeting was to settle outstanding questions about the Jury instructions. It was done in a few minutes and court was recessed until 9am.

convene 9:00
Judge to jury; Govt. has burden of proof thus gets to open and close the argument

THE PROSECUTION:
Goeke: Mr. Marsh told you it was about public trust. People chosen to rep neighbors on legislature.
four crimes - putting interest of public aside for his own - greed
conspiracy
extortion
bribery
wire fraud
[I'll post the jury instructions with all this spelled out a little later]
evidence, largely his own words and actions as recorded on video tape and phone
05-06

[You can go to the ADN website to hear the actual tapes. I've tried as best as I could to put down the dates and times (there are a lot of tapes on May 7 and 8) so you can actually hear what was played in court. If I try to match them in this post, I won't get it up for a week. But they are dated and described at the link.]

Witnesses
Physical exhibits
Pete Kott conspired with ba and rs to conspire in the interests of Veco instead of he people
Evidence overwhelming
PK guilty

numerous official actions in his capacity Nov 05 - Aug 06

$7,993 check for flooring
$1000 cash [payment for contribution to Murkowski]
political polls
lucrative job

Unique evidence - hours of electronic surveillance you the members have been able to sit in a ringside seat as they committed the crimes in the indictment

No one on the tapes, phone, 604 had any idea they were being taped.

Testimony of witnesses in the trial
consider that testimony, whether it makes sense against the audio and video



physical exhibits - how they fit in with the tapes and witnesses

1st phone call Nov. 05 I need a job, you’ve got a job, I’m gonna be a consultant
good insight into relationship between pk and Veco thru smith
Both ba and rs said on stand the gas-pipeline was the most important thing for their company and this was tied up with the gas pipeline - worth billions to Veco and state of AK

PKI just want to be the warden in barbados
RSI just want a gasline

Nov 2005 - whether gabrielle ledoux
PK - I’ll get her in line
GL confirmed that he did try to get her support

voice mail, PK - BA cell Jan 2006 Uncle B. PK here happy new year. Just want to get what our instructions are.

Representative of 12 years calls CEO of VECO for his legislative instructions

Jan 06 tape: I’m gonna get this fkkk gasline done so I can get her out her, Im gonna get her done
BA made it clear he’d take care of Kott if PK takes care of pipeline


Conspiracy concept - agreement that can be explicit or implicitly. Doesn’t require written orders of contract. Can be inferred by actions and deeds.

pk and ba 1/24/06 -
2/20/06 - BA and RS upset chris knauss, lobbyist is taking credit with Murk admin with horsepower Allen gained over pk. We got more money in PK than he can even think about.

Has kott talked to Ledoux - did you hear hi say, “I can’t do that, that would be wrong”? NO

3/4/06 - ba and rs make it clear about their objections
have to get dirty and have to get


3/10/06 - phone call pk from DC. Not just for phone call. You know my allegiance is to.
PK makes clear to rs that pk going to do something for Marathon something VEco doesn’t like and RS makes it clear to pk not to do that. you know where my allegiance is. Evaluate in context it occurred. RS so potential problem. If pk voted for this down the road, not relevant to the context at that time

3/ strategizing

3/24/ pk called smith he gained an advantage over dyson: I’ve got dyson over the barrel, YOu talked to dyson, no i got him over the barrel. Got his abortion bill tied up. He’s hot too. laughing. There’s always a way. When ba tells me he’s ready to vote it out, i’ll vote it out.
You hear an agreement, pk doesn’t say: you can’t do that.

3/29 meeting in 604 - he won’t release hold on abortion bill til ba says he can

?? successful in getting other legislators exhibit 20 explicitly linked his support, you’ll get your gasline, govt gets his bill, i’ll get my job in Barbados

5/7/06 near end of legislation. ONce leg session ended, leg dead
called that bw voted the wrong way.
21/5 passed, bw voted wrong, gonna do rescinding motion. had a couple of dems on our side craw and croft. worst that can happen is it passes again. Ben can’t get the numbers over there. can’t get 20/20.

Crowded courtroom

Smith says, I think we wanna go back and get that
An hour later congratulates pk for getting it rescinded and back to 20/20

later 5/7/06 - met in 604 21-27 Exhibits. pk describes how he got it done
11:43 pm - I had to get it done, I had to come back and face this man here, I had to beg, cheat, steal and lie

pk’s continuing efforts to support - offers insight, no idea anyone is watching
7/06/ I’d vote for 30% tax if it weren’t for this guy here.

5/8/06 v. Now I own your ass
I got it done, see

Later still may 8 v.; you know how to do it. I’ll get her done. I don’t care. I’ll sell my soul to the devil

5/8 during day. BW talk about how to maneuver bill thru
later day - Good job
later afternoon - v. 20/20 appears to be slipping away again. Where do you wanna take this bill. Don’t want to jeopardize gasline, I’ll stay on 20/20 .... [listing who will be on 20]

Seeking directions from constituents? No, from Bill Allen.

Later same day PK calls rs - smith notes kott voted for 21.5 and that he had to do it to keep it from 22.5. He’s happy.

Deadlock caused bill to die. Veco doesn’t want anything above 20/20, wanted it to die to get what they want in special session. Gov. calls special session.

june 1, 06 Allen and pk met in 604, handed PK $1000 in cash. Counts it out. And what did ba say about it. He said it was wrong an pk wasn’t expecting it. PK had already made a contribution to Murko. ba and pk have frank discussion about future
ba what do you wanna do
pk wanna be a warden in barbados
pk i wanna be lobbyist
ba you will be
pk once it’s in your blood

Mr. Allen told us in the stand right here, that being lobbyist for veco is lucrative, and it’ll get you other jobs too
RS said, getting the job was contingent on work in leg

6/3/06 pk and rs continue to discuss strategy exhibit .40 discuss Gene Therriault messing up getting the bill they want

6/ should be bill killed, cause not at 20/20

6/5-6 more meetings about killing ppt bill. pk notes he doesn’t understand the problem for the legislators. he can 45-56 exh. one he wants higher rate, another a lower rate

ba tells Bowles he can have stevens and kott kill the bill

appears deal ready to be signed
BA says, you didn’t get it done, you’re going to siberia, not barbados
6/8 pk gets adjournment before vote can be taken
Joins rs and ba in 604 to celebrate the victory - v later in meeting, pk relates what occurred and discuss strategy
going to tell all these guys ‘fuck you’ and then we’ll get a bill. june 8 11:45pm

7/12/06 rs and jerrie mackie talk about the pool they paid for. Mackie told pk about help with the poll, pk said ‘great’ Mackie didn’t say, “PK asked why, didn’t want poll”
Dittman confirms. PK and RS have phone call about whether they discussed poll.
ba: Mackie told you about the dittman poll, right? PK; Yeah.
BA:I’m working my end
pk: I work mine.
Kott didn’t say, I don’t use polls.

audio tape:
We did a poll for you, you know that don’t you? yeah? Bill didn’t know that?
Mackie wanted to do in two weeks a follow up poll to see if anything changed, to see if we wanna do anything different.
No conversation there about not wanting poll. No, we can do another one.

July 31
gonna meet in Juneau
phone call, plan to get pk more money. figured out a way I can help pk .jr.
pk. ?
ba. figured a way to help with a your son, you know? Yeah
Yeah, he’s been pestering me all damn day, already working *****************
We gotta figure out something that’s fool proof
Yeah, it’s fool proof

If the FBI hadn’t recorded this conversation then would it be fool Proof?


Aug. I’ve got your hardwood floor check. Smith didn’t say “i’ve got my check. hadn’t nothing to do with floors.
Linda Croft says she paid that invoice. 6/27/2006 only invoice she ever saw. She didn’t see any $5500 for rick. Paid with ba’s check.
You know what happened to that check. He cashed it and gave it to his son. Kott benefited.

Aug. this is the only conversation where someone knows he’s being recorded****
BA:
PK then rs gave me a check and that was it
ba: on what
pk you remember what we talked about several weeks ago. add it to your bill or something
ba; i gave you $17K on the floor right?
pk aaaa, I have to check. Maybe between both it woulda been close to that.
Nothing here about when can I do that work? because everyone knew what happened, the money tacked onto the flooring invoice, it was just the vehicle.

PK has no idea this is being recorded. SEarch warrants not broadcast til Aug 31

You evaluate the evidence. Let’s talk about how to-evaluate it.

You’ve heard from ba rs the defendant, none knew they were under surveillance. BA said, you think i would have said this if i knew i was on tape?

think about testimony in lens of what you’ve seen. Consistent with what you saw on the video?
When you consider ba’s testimony. Consider it in context of what pk said about ba’s credibility.
Is it consistent with tapes and witnesses test

Count 1
conspiracy nov 05- 06
three crimes
extortion

wire fraud

counts 2, 4, 6

Agreement is just an agreement of 2 or more to commit any one of those crimes.
Did defendant become member of conspiracy?
one of the member performed an overt act. means they did something to advance it. Floor vote, talked to a legislator many things

Ex under color of official right
4
public official
obtained money not entitled
knew it was obtained for something else
commerce moving from one state to another

no question he was in legislature
got check, $1000 in cash, poll, job with veco
Know? he did. think. To be guilty of that, to have that knowledge, pk simply needs to have agreement or understanding implied or stated explicitly. If i do these things, I’m going to get this job, get this money, doesn’t matter if he did it or had the power to do it
ppt leg that certainly affects commerce for the state of alaska


Count 4
Bribery program fed funds
elected official
corruptly solicited or agreed to accept
business transaction value >$50000
AK agency must get >$10K in grants from Feds

same things $7,993, cash, poll, etc
thing at issue, the ppt legislation involved something of $5K - Dickenson made it clear that it was hundreds of millions
AK receives hundreds of millions

Count 6 Wirefraud
made up scheme or plan - acting on behalf of his own interest instead of people
under whose directions - veco
when defendant placed phone call in dc. they discussed legislation, veco’s view,
statements in phone call in furtherance of scheme or plan - conversation had to be about something important to the fraud. About setting pk straight about how he’s supposed to act with the cook inlet oil. pk said, I know where my allegiances are.
phone call occurred from state to state - from dc to Alaska

based on this overwhelming evidence , from all the witnesses, and mr. kott and physical evidence. i ask you to find peter kott guilty on all four counts of the indictment. Thank you.

9:58.