Washington - Billionaire Don Tyson, a longtime supporter of President Clinton, will not be called to testify against two Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN - news) lobbyists accused of trying to influence a Clinton Cabinet member improperly, prosecutors said.
Tyson and the $5 billion Arkansas company he controls are at the center of the independent counsel's case against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy.
Two Tyson lobbyists, Jack Williams and Archie Schaeffer, went on trial in federal court last week, accused of giving some $12,000 worth of pro football tickets, airplane rides and other favors to Espy in 1993 when the Agriculture Department was considering stricter regulations for poultry processors. The trial is a preview of Espy's own trial, scheduled for October, at which he will face many of the same charges.
The prosecution had summoned Tyson, 64, to the federal courthouse on to prepare to testify against the two company lobbyists.
But assistant independent counsel Robert Ray said when the jury was out of the courtroom that the prosecution would not call Tyson, an unindicted co- conspirator in the case. Ray declined to comment during a break in the trial.
The prosecution received a setback in its case when US Judge James Robertson sharply limited testimony from a key government witness because prosecutors had not shown evidence of a conspiracy. Schaeffer and Williams are accused of engaging in 11 counts of conspiracy, committing mail and wire fraud, and lying to federal agents in connection with gifts for Espy.
The judge's conspiracy ruling could also be important in the former agriculture secretary's trial.
“This bodes ill for the prosecution's case against Espy,” Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University, said. “It doesn't mean the government has been blown out of the water. But it can be a severe handicap if the government is relying on statements made out of court for evidence.”
Ellis Branton, a Tyson Foods vice president, told jurors the Agriculture Department's proposed poultry rules in 1993 would have cost Tyson an initial $57 million plus $39 million annually. The company opposed the plan for “zero tolerance” of fecal matter on chicken carcasses because it was too costly and merely an interim step, Branton testified.
“It was not going to be an effective technique. It was not going to make our food or chicken safer,” Branton said. “It was cobbled together very hastily.”
Prosecutors have tried to show that the two Tyson lobbyists showered Espy and his girlfriend with gifts to influence the pending regulations. The defense maintains the two men simply followed through on social invitations made by Don Tyson and never tried to buy the secretary's favor.
The case is expected to go to the jury.
Williams was convicted last year of lying to federal investigators probing alleged gifts to Espy but won a new trial because of a perjured statement by an FBI agent.
Last December Tyson Foods pleaded guilty to giving Espy gifts and agreed to pay a $6 million fine. As part of the agreement, the company kept some $200 million worth of government food contracts.
Espy, who resigned from the Cabinet in 1994, has said he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
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