Published: January 28, 2011

http://www2.dothaneagle.com/news/2011/jan/28/gilleys-monday-hearing-delayed-another-week-ar-1397991/

A federal judge has granted a one-week delay in Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley’s hearing on a motion to revoke the conditions of his pre-trial release.

Gilley attorney Doug Jones filed an emergency motion for a continuance on Friday. It cited Gilley’s visit to physicians in Birmingham regarding a medical situation over the weekend of Jan. 22-23.

The hearing, originally scheduled for Jan. 31, is now scheduled for Feb. 7 at 9 a.m. at the federal courthouse in Montgomery.

The motion said Gilley spent most of Thursday and Friday consulting with physicians, and that the issue will require further consultation and treatment next week. The nature of the medical situation was not disclosed.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Terry G. Moorer convened a hearing by telephone on Friday, and indicated prosecutors did not oppose the motion.

Prosecutors are seeking to revoke the conditions of Gilley’s pre-trial release amid allegations he had contact with and offered a bribe to a former Country Crossing lobbyist and co-defendant, Jarrod Massey, in an attempt to limit Massey’s testimony in a state corruption case in which Gilley and 10 others were indicted in October. Massey entered a plea agreement and is not cooperating as witness.

Meanwhile, defendants in the federal bingo corruption case hope to widen the jury selection pool to include the entire Middle District, which would mean Wiregrass residents might be eligible.

U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson on Friday ordered motions and briefs in the case be submitted on Feb. 9.

Indicted VictoryLand Casino owner Milton McGregor sought on Thursday to have jurors chosen randomly from the district at large instead of only from the district’s Northern division.

The motion was joined by fellow defendants Gilley, Robert Geddie, James Preuitt, Quenton Ross, Harri Anne Smith, Jarrell Walker and Joseph Crosby.

McGregor has been charged with bribery, fraud and money laundering, among other charges, in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into alleged attempts to buy votes to secure passage of an electronic bingo bill last year in the Alabama Legislature.

“McGregor’s constitutional right to an impartial jury is best met in this high profile case by randomly selecting jurors from the Middle District as a whole,” the motion said. “This court can take judicial notice that this is a very high profile case that has received a truly enormous amount of publicity and public attention, particularly in the Montgomery area and the Northern Division.

“Because of this publicity, it will be far more difficult to select an impartial jury if jurors are only drawn from the Northern Division,” the motion said.

The motion cites case law in which a court “affirmed the use of district-wide jury selection as being in compliance with a criminal defendant’s Sixth Amendment right,” which guarantees criminal defendants the right to a trial before an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime was committed.

“Additionally, this case, which involves allegations of public corruption in the State Legislature, is one of great importance to all Alabama residents and the potential jurors in this case should not be limited to just those who reside in the Northern Division of the Middle District,” the motion said.

The motion said jurors should include “persons residing in both the Eastern and Southern divisions of the Middle District, as two facilities most affected by the legislation at issue, VictoryLand and Country Crossing,” are located in those divisions.

The Middle District of Alabama includes Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Chilton, Coffee, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Pike, Russell and Tallapoosa counties.