Trial of ex-Okla. senator, 2 co-defendants starts

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The former leader of the Oklahoma Senate is scheduled go on trial Monday on federal charges that he accepted more than $400,000 in illegal payments from three companies that sought his influence.

Former Sen. Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, was one of the most powerful people in state government while he served as president pro tem or co-president pro tem of the Senate from March 2005 until he left office in November 2008.

Beginning Monday, federal prosecutors will air allegations before a 12-member jury that Morgan conspired with a lobbyist and an attorney to use his leadership role to steer bills on behalf of two of the companies he allegedly received payments from.

Morgan, 56, lobbyist William Skeith, 53, of Edmond, and attorney N. Martin Stringer, 71, of Oklahoma City, are charged with conspiracy, extortion and mail fraud. Morgan also faces a bribery charge.

They have all pleaded not guilty.

In court papers filed in the case last month, assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Williams and Vicki Zemp Behenna said prosecutors will prove that Morgan accepted more than $400,000.00 from the companies when he knew that, in exchange, the companies expected him to help them in his official capacity as a state Senator.

"Mr. Morgan, who happens to be an attorney, accepted all of the payments in the guise of monthly retainer fees, although he performed virtually no legal services for any of the three companies," according to the documents. "His pretense of acting as a legislator on behalf of the public while acting simultaneously for private pay goes directly to his fraudulent intent.

"The mere fact that an attorney is paid to perform certain services does not convert those services into legal work," prosecutors said.

An indictment returned by a federal grand jury against Morgan and his co-defendants last year alleges Skeith and Stringer arranged $141,000 in payments to Morgan over three years from a company that wanted to build a solid waste landfill in northern Oklahoma.

It also alleges Skeith arranged a $250,000 payment to Morgan from a company wanting to build a power plant, and that Morgan took another $12,000 from a company seeking to limit the state Health Department's regulation of assisted-living centers.

Morgan's attorney, David Ogle, has said he did legitimate legal work for the payments.

The indictment did not identify the companies involved, but legal papers filed by defense attorneys have identified two of them as Dilworth Development, Inc., of Blackwell and Tenaska, Inc., a large, privately held corporation headquartered in Omaha, Neb.

Prosecutors allege that Morgan struck language from legislation that would have blocked the proposed Dilworth landfill and added language to another bill that would have aided a joint power plant venture between Tenaska and the Grand River Dam Authority, according to prosecutors.

Prosecution witnesses in the case will include Jerry Dale Cash, the former chief executive officer for Quest Resource Corp., Quest Energy Partners and Quest Midstream Partners, who was sentenced in November 2010 to nine years in federal prison for misappropriating $10 million in company funds for his personal use.

Cash, a friend of Stringer's, claims Stringer confessed to him about the bribery case, according to court records.

Defense attorneys plan to call Lee Slater, legal advisor to the Oklahoma Senate since 1988, and question him as an expert witness in the case. Prosecutors objected to his testimony, but U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron ruled Slater could testify about certain issues involving the case, including the legislative process.

"The jury could benefit from Mr. Slater's opinion regarding the legislative process of these bills," Cauthron wrote in an order allowing Slater's testimony.

If convicted, each of the three face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of conspiracy, extortion and wire fraud. Morgan faces an additional penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the bribery count.

The indictment also seeks forfeiture of the alleged illegal payments to Morgan.