000375 Tyson Foods Exec Seeks New Trial

Washington - A Tyson Foods executive convicted of providing illegal gifts to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy asked an appeals court to give him a new trial so Espy can testify in his behalf.

Espy, who didn't testify at Archie Schaffer's trial last June, was awaiting a trial of his own at the time on corruption charges. He was subsequently acquitted.

Schaffer attorney Bill Jeffress told the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that there was no way to get Espy to testify for Schaffer while his own case was pending.

“There was never a point he was going to give us an affidavit any more than he was going to be interviewed,” Jeffress said.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson agreed in December to give Schaffer a new trial, saying Espy's testimony would likely result in Schaffer's acquittal, but Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz appealed the decision. The judge had earlier overturned Schaffer's conviction only to have it reinstated on appeal.

Smaltz's lawyers argued Friday that Schaffer didn't try to get Espy's testimony in a timely manner and that it wouldn't have helped him anyway.

At least one of the appellate panel's three members, Chief Judge Harry Edwards, seemed to agree with Smaltz. Edwards told Jeffress he was on “soft ground” and said, “I don't think the Espy stuff does much one way or another.”

Schaffer was convicted of violating the Meat Inspection Act by providing illegal gifts to Espy on two occasions in 1993: President Clinton's inauguration and a lavish party later in Russellville, Ark.

Prosecutors say Schaffer, who is Tyson's governmental affairs director, arranged for Espy to speak to a group of Arkansas poultry executives as cover for him to attend the Russellville party later that day. Espy, testifying at a hearing in November, denied that the speech was a sham event.

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