CLEVELAND Is Traficant in a no-win situation?

The government doesn't need audio tapes. It has the word of witnesses, a professor says.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- Don't be so quick to count U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. out -- he can be cunning, a law professor says.
"He's a fox," said Lewis R. Katz, who teaches law at Case Western Reserve University. "Everyone's inclination is to underestimate him, but he's much smarter than people think."
Katz summed up Traficant's self-representation by saying the congressman doesn't know what he's doing and needs a lawyer. That's not to say he won't be able to persuade one juror to see things his way, Katz said.
"He's played this game before," Katz said. When Traficant won acquittal representing himself in 1983 on bribery charges, everyone assumed the government had strong evidence then, too, the law professor said.
Evidence: Traficant's statements to reporters last week that the government has no "principal evidence" in its racketeering case against him is ridiculous, Katz said.
Traficant, of Poland, D-17th, contends that the prosecution, to prove its case, should have his fingerprints on incriminating evidence, a videotape or audio tape of him confessing to kickbacks. Someone, he maintains, should have worn a wire for the FBI.
"That's ridiculous -- they have statements from witnesses about kickbacks or how he took advantage of his position in Congress," Katz said.
"Who knows," Katz said about a possible defense. He said it would have to be a "widespread conspiracy" to fit into Traficant's 1983 vendetta theory.
Witnesses: If just one or two contractors testified they did work for free at Traficant's horse farm in Greenford, the congressman might make the argument stick that none of their testimony is true, Katz said. The parade of contractors, though, shows a "devastating pattern."
Even so, Katz finds the congressional staffers' kickbacks and farm work the most damaging testimony so far. He called it the "worst kind of exploitation."
Traficant claims witnesses were pressured to give the government something on him.
Katz said the 60-year-old congressman may get some witnesses to admit being pressured, but it doesn't necessarily change the point of their testimony. Oftentimes, he said, the witness -- or the relative of a witness -- can be threatened with prosecution.
There's no way to prosecute some crimes without going after the people who engage in the same behavior, Katz said.
So far, 39 witnesses have testified in the case against Traficant, and only two key witnesses remain: A. David Sugar Sr. and J.J. Cafaro.
That's not to say that the government has only two witnesses left to call.
The prosecution team -- Craig S. Morford, Bernard A. Smith and Matthew B. Kall -- began with a list of 60-plus witnesses.
Trial's status: Today marks the 21st trial day, and the prosecution said it expected to complete its case within the next two weeks.
Although Traficant is not required to put on a defense, he says he will call witnesses on his behalf.
Since testimony began Feb. 13, the government has worked its way through five of the 10 counts -- conspiracy to commit bribery (key witness: Anthony R. Bucci); conspiracy to violate the bribery statute (key witness: R. Allen Sinclair), seeking and accepting illegal gratuities (Sinclair); obstruction of justice (Sinclair); conspiracy to defraud the United States (kickbacks, houseboat and farm labor).
The remaining counts include violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and two each of conspiracy to violate the bribery statute (Sugar and Cafaro) and tax evasion. The RICO count, which includes a $100,000 forfeiture, comprises all the crimes alleged.
Testimony: Sugar admitted in October 2000 that he lied to a grand jury when he said Honey Creek Contracting in New Middletown billed and received payment from the congressman for work. Sugar also admitted that he directed his secretary to create fake invoices and mailing dates and give the records to an FBI agent in response to a grand jury subpoena.
The work included trenches and the use of hay equipment at the farm and a concrete floor in a barn at Traficant's Poland residence.
Sugar faces 18 to 24 months in prison, but his cooperation -- testifying -- could reduce the sentence to 10 to 16 months.
Traficant is accused of intervening to move Sugar's son from a Licking County jail to a Youngstown halfway house to serve out a felony DUI conviction. The congressman also is accused of contacting the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corporation for Sugar, who wanted to win a contract to demolish the Higbee building downtown.
Cafaro, a vice president with The Cafaro Co., is not expected to testify until next week. He has pleaded guilty to giving Traficant $13,000 in cash and paying for $26,000 worth of repairs on the congressman's houseboat in return for congressional favors.
First up this morning to testify was Sue Beegle, Sugar's former secretary at Honey Creek. She admitted that, at Sugar's direction, she falsified Traficant's invoices.
Documents: Last Friday, FBI Special Agent Deane Hassman said he first visited Sugar's company on April 26, 2000. At the time, Traficant's file had three documents in it, including a partial payment of $1,142.
The December 1999 payment was made about two weeks after the congressman's office and phone records were subpoenaed by Morford.
When Hassman returned May 18, 2000, he gave advance notice that he would arrive about 5:30 p.m. The Traficant file then contained a dozen documents.
On Hassman's third visit, May 23, 2000, a check of Beegle's office computer showed that some invoices had been created nearly a year after the date they represented. They also had been modified about 20 minutes before Hassman's May 18 visit, the computer showed.
Beegle said Sugar had directed her to create and back-date invoices showing billing and create a file for the FBI.
Beegle said she initially lied to the FBI, at Sugar's direction, confirming that her handwritten mailing dates on the invoices were accurate. Later, Beegle said she admitted to the FBI what she had done.
"I didn't want to lie," said Beegle, who now lives in Lexington, Ky.
Beegle, again at the direction of Sugar, also created invoices in March 2000 for hauling hay machines.
On March 17, 2000, after a tip that machinery was being hauled away from Traficant's farm, the FBI set up surveillance and followed the flat-bed, registered to Sugar, to western Pennsylvania. The equipment, described by Hassman as hay baling equipment, was delivered to Dean Foods property, owned by Kirila Construction. The truck driver also was expected to testify today.
The equipment, described Friday by Traficant as hay mowers, was towed by Gobel's and remains in storage. Hassman said it was taken after being declared abandoned property.