KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Jury deliberates in Mose Jefferson bribery trial
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Associated Press - August 21, 2009 3:24 PM ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal jury is weighing evidence in the bribery case against the brother of a former Louisiana congressman.
Before the jury resumed its deliberations Friday, they asked for extra transcript copies of conversations between Mose Jefferson and former New Orleans school board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms.
Jefferson is charged with paying $140,000 in kickbacks to Brooks-Simms as a reward for her support in awarding school contracts to a computer-based teaching system he sold.
In earlier testimony Jefferson told jurors he gave Brooks-Simms the money as a gift because she was a longtime friend who was deep in debt.
His brother, former Rep. William Jefferson, was convicted of unrelated corruption charges by a federal jury in Virginia earlier this month.
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