Prosecution rests, Melva Langford and Jimmy Blake testify

Federal prosecutors concluded their case today against former Jefferson County Commissioner John Katopodis and the defense began its case in chief. However, the pace and tone of the trial to a sharp turn toward the bizarre. Among Katopodis's first defense witnesses were Melva Langford, wife of Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, and former Birmingham City Councilor Jimmy Blake.



Under direct examination, Ms. Langford said that Katopodis never bought a television for her family. Rather, Katopodis bought the television for a charity raffle to benefit the Holy Family Foundation, which Ms. Langford heads. However, the raffle never happened and to the best of her knowledge, Katopodis still has the TV, she said.

Under cross examination, Ms. Langford said that she and Mayor Langford had gone with Katopodis to casinos in New Orleans.

She also said that Katopodis and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy had bought a piano for her family. She did not know, according to her testimony, that Computer Help for Kids funds had paid for the piano.

Before Ms. Langford testified, Blake took the stand for an intense back and forth with prosecutors. Earlier in the week, jurors heard testimony from Birmingham City Council President Carole Smitherman that Katopodis had pressured her to attend a women's leadership conference in Cairo, Egypt. Smitherman said that Katopodis was pushy and that she was suspicious of the offer. Prosecutors asked Smitherman if Dr. Jimmy Blake was her physician. Puzzled, she said he was not and never had been.

The reasoning behind that question became apparent Friday afternoon. Documents taken from Katopodis' hard drive show that Katopodis used a letter from Blake to get a refund on an Air France ticket. He had bought the ticket for Smitherman.

Under questioning from prosecutors, Blake said he had written a letter for Katopodis saying that Smitherman would be unable to take the trip. He admitted that he wrote it so that someone who read it might mistakenly assume Smitherman couldn't travel for health reasons.

On another matter, Blake testified that he had met Charles "Patty" Hill, but he denied Hill had been his campaign manager for his 2002 Jefferson County Commission race. Blake managed his own campaigns, he said.

Earlier in the week, Hill testified that he had been Blake's campaign manager. Regardless, canceled checks introduced into evidence show that he was paid regularly out of Computer Help for Kids' bank account.