Pete Kott Trial Day 9 - Miscellaneous Notes

Things got pretty tedious in court today as the lawyers fished the answers they wanted from the witnesses. My wrist was sore from typing so much Friday i didn't bring my computer so I don't have anything close to verbatim, but the attorneys would tell the facts they wanted the witnesses to say, and end it with, "right?" So, I began to doodle. Than can be dangerous, but with no cameras allowed, and no artists in the courtroom, you'll have to make do with these dubious likenesses. But you can get a little sense of what it felt like.

Above Kott's attorney Wendt is questioning Smith. He got Smith to say that his Veco salary was $165,000 a year. Plus annual bonus. It took a while to get that out, but it was $20-90,000. And then there were special bonuses which Smith said he got seven of the last eight years. Another $20-50,000. Anything else? Well there was severance pay. He got a monthly check until about ten days ago when he got a lump sum $384,000. Oh yes, don't forget the attorney's fee payment - an even $Half Million. If the costs are less, he can keep it. If more, he has to pay himself. He didn't ask about health care or other perks. Or even if he gets a pension.

He also asked Smith about his dealings with the owners of the Buckaroo Club where he got cash for checks for one of the 150 golf tournaments he arranged. He said that he only used them to cash checks for the last tournament of each year. . Wendt asked about whether the Buckaroo owners had warned him about the IRS opinion of this. He said he did it because he enjoyed and to raise money for charities. Sometimes there was extra money, sometimes he was behind. I'm not totally sure about the relevance to the trial, but perhaps it was part of his questioning about the many charges that apparantly were dropped in exchange for his testimony. Or just to raise questions with the jury. The prosecutors did protest a few times that Wendt was asking Smith questions that weren't related to the original testimony and the judge said that he understood that, but would give Wendt some leeway so he didn't have to call Smith in as a witness for the defense.



Judge Sedwick continues to appear very patient and even-handed. He makes practical decisions that seemed at getting the proceedings moving along. He even has suggested to the attorneys how to word questions to get at what they wanted to get at without having objections.


The prosecution used Dave Dittman to pin down the payment of the poll he did for Kott, that it was ordered by Jerry Mackie and he was told to bill it to Veco. And Dittman did that without calling Allen to check. And he also testified that he talked to Kott about the numbers and what they meant and what he should do with the information (Stress your experience in the legislature, point out all the school improvements you brought to Eagle River.)

Meg Simonian introduced herself to Dittman as "one of Pete Kott's attorneys." I had wondered earlier why Wendt introduced himself to witnesses as "I'm Pete Kott's attorney." Did he catch her phrasing? She also started by saying, "We haven't met before this, correct?" And "You didn't want to meet with me did you?" And Dittman confirmed this. I have to find out exactly what the rules are on that. If the defense hadn't talked to the prosecution's witnesses, then it makes their questioning a lot more difficult and explains why they tried lots of different approaches and sometimes lost points because of the answers. The picture shows the basic view I had, with the attorney's mic cutting through my view of the witness. I did a lot better on the likenesses of those you see from behind. But, given no one else seemed to be drawing in the courtroom, these are probably the best pictures there are of today.

State Senator Fred Dyson has been in court a few times. Bill Allen was in his truck when Dyson pulled over and told him there were some people he needed to talk to. That was when Allen first talked to the FBI. He was sitting behind me today and during the break I asked him if this was all stuff he already knew or not. He said he suspected a lot, but this was all very enlightening. I asked him why there weren't other legislators there. He said Hollis French and Gary Therriault had been. He agreed with my thought that this was a far more effective ethics training course than what the legislature got last January. He mused how easy it would be for a legislature to have a Bill Allen in the office, someone he's known for a long time and with whom he agrees with on many issues, to offer some work to him. He related how one businessman had talked to him about some issue and Dyson had been sympathetic and the guy was so happy that someone didn't just blow him off. As he left he asked how he could contribute to his campaign. Dyson said he had to tell him, that he couldn't do that way.




The court room is pretty full of journalists these days, so all the other basics will be available at other sources. I'm sure you can hear on APRN, Channel 2 or 11, or read in the Anchorage Daily News.