On Thursday, two businessmen will head to prison for conspiring to bribe Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). And Jefferson himself? He’ll most likely be enjoying an indictment-free spring as his lawyers battle with prosecutors over documents seized from his congressional office last May.
Brett Pfeffer, a former aide of Jefferson’s who pled guilty to helping bribe his old boss, will begin his eight year stint in a minimum security prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania, according to The Times-Picayune. And Vernon Jackson, a businessman who pled guilty to giving more than $400,000 in bribes to Jefferson, will be starting his seven year, three month sentence at the minimum security prison in Cumberland, Maryland — where he might just bump into his fellow inmate, Jack Abramoff. The sentences for both Pfeffer and Jackson might be shortened in exchange for cooperation with prosecutors against Jefferson.
But although Justice Department prosecutors have reportedly been poised to indict Jefferson for months, the case remains tangled in the legal fray caused by the FBI’s raid of Jefferson’s congressional office. And it won’t be until April at the earliest before an appeals court begins to consider the fate of a select few of the seized documents — which Jefferson’s lawyer argues are protected as legislative materials under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate clause. That means it may well be summer before prosecutors actually bring an indictment.
Since Jefferson has vowed to stay and fight any indictment, it seems likely that his case will trouble Democrats far into 2007, and possibly, considering the slow wheels of Justice, even into 2008.
