Edwards Juror Tells of Effort to Influence Him

The lone juror who voted to convict Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards in his fraud and racketeering trial has told a federal grand jury that a union officer asked him to find the governor not guilty.

The juror, Clifford West, made the disclosure Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Marcel Livaudais declared a mistrial on Dec. 18 when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on charges that the governor and four co-defendants illegally sold permits for hospital construction.

On Friday, Edwards denied having knowledge of the alleged jury tampering and questioned how West landed a job that the governor said needed federal approval.

Contacted as Trial Began

West, a 32-year-old electrician, told the grand jury that an officer of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Local 130 approached him soon after the trial began on Sept. 19.

West refused to identify the union officer and said that he did not tell the judge of the contact at the time because the “attempt to influence me was not working.”

Edwards said: “I know nothing about it and therefore have no comment. But I sure would like to know the full story about why he (West) got a federal government job in the middle of the trial and what influence that may have had on his persistent guilty vote.”

West got a job at Martin Marietta Corp., which makes fuel tanks for the space shuttle, shortly after the trial began.