Vernon Jackson, whose conviction for bribing U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson was tossed, seeks amends | Courts

Kentucky businessman Vernon Jackson, a key government witness in the federal government’s prosecution of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, is seeking financial compensation for the 40 months he served in prison for convictions that were later dropped by a judge due to “fundamental” legal errors.

Jackson recently wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland listing obstacles to rebuilding his business, which offers high-speed internet over old copper phone wires. Jackson said some people, including investors, still “only see me as a Black man who is a felon.”

Jackson’s request for compensation falls under a federal program intended to make amends to people who were unfairly prosecuted. As the rationale for his request, Jackson cites the 2019 ruling by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III that invalidated Jackson’s 2006 guilty plea to bribing Jefferson.

Ellis, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, said he acted because the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 overturned the corruption conviction of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. In doing so, the high court limited the types of “official acts” required for a payment or gift to a public official to be considered a bribe.

Ellis said Jackson “would not have pled guilty” in 2006 to paying bribes had the Supreme Court ruling been made earlier. But the judge added that his cancellation of the guilty verdict should not be taken to mean that he approves of Jackson’s actions: He noted that Jackson “paid Jefferson, a congressman, and his family large sums of money for the congressman to exert his influence” to win contracts for his digital technology in the U.S. and western Africa.

In a telephone interview, Jefferson said he doesn’t plan to follow Jackson’s lead and put in his own request for compensation because he doesn’t think “the chances of success under this particular law are very good.” But he said he doesn’t fault Jackson for doing so, and says the businessman has good reason to feel “upset at how the entire case was handled.”

In his letter to Garland, Jackson argues that he and Jefferson, both African Americans, were treated differently than McDonnell, the ex-governor, who is White.

“Jefferson was convicted on 11 different counts of corruption,” Jackson wrote. “McDonnell was convicted on 11 counts of corruption. Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison. McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Jefferson’s appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear McDonnell’s appeal and put his reporting to prison on hold awaiting their ruling. He never spent a day in prison.”

In explaining his decision to drop most but not all of the 11 guilty counts against Jefferson, however, Ellis stressed that Jefferson’s conduct was worse than McDonnell’s.

The judge’s 2017 ruling freed Jefferson, now 74, after five years and five months in federal prison. That was less than half of the record 13-year sentence Ellis originally imposed. The case drew national and even international coverage, partly because of its sensational elements.

Among the highlights: the $90,000 in $20 bills found by FBI agents stuffed in the freezer of the congressman’s Washington apartment; the first-ever raid of a congressman’s office; and plenty of international intrigue, including testimony that Jefferson and Jackson were sped to Nigeria’s main airport early in the morning after being warned of plans to arrest them there.

Jackson, 69, an engineer by training, said these days he’s working to find a new manufacturing partner for his Kentucky technology company, now called SmartCopper Broadband Inc.

With the Biden administration putting a priority on bringing high-speed internet access to poor and rural communities, Jackson said his technology could achieve that goal quickly and cheaply.

“Fifteen years ago, our solution was superior to anything on the market with respect to speed, cost, distance, installation time and reliability,” Jackson said. “Today, the 2.0 version of our solution would be far superior to anything on the market.”

Jackson, who is also a Christian minister, said his guilty pleas likely cost him over $10 million. But getting financial compensation will be an uphill fight.

Just last week, James Touhey, director of the torts branch for the Justice Department, wrote Jackson to say that “after careful consideration, it has been determined that your claim is not compensable.” He gave no reason.

Touhey said Jackson could challenge his ruling in court. Jackson plans to do so, though the odds appear stacked against him.

Jeffrey S. Gutman, director of the Public Justice Advocacy Center at George Washington University, could only name two former federal inmates on the National Registry of Exonerations who have won compensation.

In an interview with The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, Jackson confirmed that he had been given an early warning about the FBI probe from Lori Mody.

Mody, a Virginia businesswoman, started the Jefferson investigation by filing a complaint against the Democratic congressman. She later wore a wire to record lengthy dinner meetings with Jefferson.

After the probe started, Jackson said, he met with Mody, and she took his mobile phone and placed it in an office drawer. She then led him to a courtyard outside her office, where she warned him to be careful because the FBI was investigating Jefferson.

Jackson decided not to say anything to Jefferson. He explained he wasn’t worried because the congressman, a Harvard-educated lawyer, assured him he wouldn’t do anything to put himself and his family into legal jeopardy.

Had he passed on Mody’s warning, Jackson believes Jefferson would have been more careful in his conversations with Mody and others. Even so, there were signs Jefferson was wary in his lengthy dinner conversations with Mody.

”All these damn notes we’re writing to each other, as if we’re talking as if the FBI is watching,” Jefferson told Mody in one wiretapped conversation at a Washington D.C. restaurant in May 2005.

In fact, they were. Less than three months later, special agents raided his Washington and New Orleans homes, the offices of Jackson’s technology company and a large Maryland home owned by the vice president of Nigeria and his wife.