Extortion trial begins for Pine Bluff Alderman
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Lawyers started selecting jurors in Pine Bluff Monday morning for the federal extortion trial of an alderman
who is running for mayor of that city.
Prosecutors say Alderman Jack Foster took $32,500 dollars in exchange for voting to support a property zoning change. Foster says he is innocent and expects to be cleared after a weeklong trial. A former aldermanic colleague, Billy Freeman, pleaded guilty to
the same charge and others earlier this year. He awaits sentencing, but is expected to testify against Foster first. The federal indictment put the two aldermen together at a meeting last year in which they allegedly asked for payment for their votes. In a pre-trial statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Coleman promised the FBI would present video and audio evidence of the
conversation.
