Alabama bingo case defense: Investigators listened to too many calls

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- De­fense lawyers in the Alabama bingo vote-buying case on Wednesday told a federal judge that federal investiga­tors improperly listened to hundreds of business-re­lated and other calls during the course of the investiga­tion.
Sam Heldman, an attor­ney representing VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor, said federal investigators listened to business calls and other calls that were not relevant to the investigation. Held­man said those phone calls included conversations with the Macon County district attorney about a possible raid at the facility by former Gov. Bob Riley's gambling task force.
Defense teams are seek­ing to have the wiretaps thrown out of evidence, ar­guing federal investigators broke their own rules about minimizing the capture of phone conversations that were not relevant to the investigation. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson held a hearing on the issue Wednesday but did not in­dicate when he will rule.
A magistrate judge has recommended the wiretaps stay in evidence.
A federal prosecutor told Thompson that, in hind­sight, agents might have lis­tened to some calls they shouldn't have, but he said mistakes were rare and agents made the best deci­sions they could with the in­formation they had at the time.
Prosecutors tapped McGregor's phones and phones belonging to Coun­try Crossing developer Ron­nie Gilley and Gilley's lob­byist Jarrod Massey. Massey and Gilley have struck plea deals with federal prosecu­tors. The case goes to trial June 6