Sometimes there is nothing quite so ironic as the news. For example, a federal jury on Feb. 12 found former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin guilty on 20 of 21 corruption charges, the Associated Press and NBC News reported.
Nagin, who left office in 2010, served two terms as mayor, including during Hurricane Katrina, during which he and his chief of police confiscated the firearms of thousands of citizen who were trying to defend themselves and their property during extended periods of lawlessness.
Nagin, an early and leading member of billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), was later sued in federal court by the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association. He lost that case after a lengthy court battle and extended foot dragging. Of course, Nagin is not the first member of MAIG to run afoul of the law.
In his current corruption trial, Nagin faced a 21-count indictment, with the prosecution alleging he accepted bribes totaling over $500,000 while in office. They alleged that he accepted bribes, free trips and other gratuities from contractors in exchange for helping them secure millions of dollars in city work while he was in office, including right after Hurricane Katrina.
The jury found Nagin guilty of 20 of 21 counts against him. He sat quietly at the defense table after the verdict was read and his wife, Seletha, was being consoled in the front row.
Before the verdict, the 57-year-old Ray Nagin said outside the New Orleans courtroom: “I’ve been at peace with this for a long time. I’m good.”
The Democrat, who left office in 2010 after eight years, was indicted in January 2013 on charges he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of local businessman Frank Fradella.
He also was charged with accepting thousands of dollars in payoffs from another businessman, Rodney Williams, for his help in securing city contracts.
For some, Nagin is best remembered for his impassioned pleas for help after levees broke during Hurricane Katrina, flooding much of New Orleans and plunging the city into chaos. For gunowners, his gun grab during the Hurricane emergency was the inspiration for passage of laws in many states that prevent authorities from seizing firearms from private owners during a natural or mademade state of emergency.
Nagin testified that key witnesses lied and prosecutors misinterpreted evidence including emails, checks and pages from his appointment calendar linking him to businessmen who said they bribed him.
The defense repeatedly said prosecutors overstated Nagin’s authority to approve contracts. His lawyer said there is no proof money and material given to the granite business owned by Nagin and his sons was tied to city business.
The charges against Nagin included one overarching conspiracy count along with six counts of bribery, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy and four counts of filing false tax returns. He was acquitted of one of the bribery counts.
Each of the charges carries a sentence from 3 to 20 years, but how long he would serve was unclear and will depend on a pre-sentence investigation and various sentencing guidelines, as well as any appeals that might be filed.
