BREAKING: Birmingham mayor Larry Langford guilty of bribery, fraud, conspiracy
By Wade KwonJury deliberated less than 2 hours; mayor loses office by conviction
In the Tuscaloosa federal courthouse, Birmingham mayor Larry Langford was found guilty on all 60 counts of of bribery, money laundering, fraud and conspiracy. The jury deliberated less than 2 hours this afternoon before returning a verdict.
The conviction automatically removes Langford from office. Council president Carole Smitherman becomes acting mayor until a special election is held. Valerie Abbott becomes acting council president.
Judge Scott Coogler set Langford’s forfeiture at $241,843; sentencing will take place in early 2010, in 90 to 120 days. Langford, who remains free until then, faces up to 805 years in prison.
Following the trial, Langford said he plans to appeal, adding “We all have our trials, this too will pass.”
Video: Langford chastises Birmingham media after the verdict (3 min.)
While Langford served on the Jefferson County Commission, Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount paid Langford with about $236,000 in cash, jewelry and clothes, sometimes using lobbyist Al LaPierre as a middleman. Blount and LaPierre, who were indicted with Langford, pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Langford, in turn, steered millions of dollars worth of county bond business to Blount’s firm, Blount Parrish. The three passed off the transactions as loans, creating false promissory notes to cover their tracks.
The trial was originally slated for Aug. 31, until Langford’s attorneys successfully petitioned for a change of venue from Birmingham. The next available date in Tuscaloosa was Oct. 19, and the trial has lasted 8 days. Langford was arrested in December 2008.
Langford becomes the fourth county commissioner convicted of sewer-related finances. The others were Mary Buckelew, Chris McNair and Gary White. (A fifth commissioner, Jeff Germany, was convicted of misapplying funds and conspiracy.)
He began as a reporter for WBRC-TV 6, but turned to politics after his election to the Birmingham city council in 1977. He went on to become mayor of Fairfield in 1988, where he pushed for regional cooperation to open the Visionland amusement park (now Alabama Adventure).
Langford started his service on the Jefferson County commission in 2002, and soon became commission president. He entered office with the county already $1 billion in debt in sewer-related bills.
In 2007, he became mayor of Birmingham. He also worked as public relations director for Birmingham Budweiser. (Full bio at BhamWiki.)
His conviction ends his 32-year political career.
Video: Langford’s media conference after the verdict (20 min.)
• • •
What do you think of the verdict? Birmingham’s future? Share your thoughts in the comments, please.
• • •
Complete coverage: The trial of Larry Langford from Wade on Birmingham.
Follow @LLtrial on Twitter for continuous media updates.
Subscribe to the RSS feed for daily coverage of Larry Langford’s trial from Wade on Birmingham.
Illustration by Herman Henderson
Friday, October 30, 2009, 6:04 pm
[…] BREAKING: Birmingham mayor Larry Langford guilty of bribery, fraud, conspiracy Wade | It’s hard to take Langford… theresa marshall | by the way if you go to… theresa marshall | do you think people in bham… Wade | I’ll go over this more in a… Comments RSS [?] […]
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 4:52 pm
I’m glad that we can put this behind us. Hopefully we can get someone else in who will actually be realistic and make changes that are necessary. Birmingham has a lot of potential to become the “Magic City” again. However, we need someone who is realistic to come in and make it happen – step by step!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 5:28 pm
I’m am so glad that he’s gone. But I think he will do everything to turn this into a race issue, and that is not good for Birmingham. “Hitler wasn’t treated this bad” “Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t treated this bad.”
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 5:31 pm
[…] if (hours>12){ hours=hours-12 } if (hours==0) hours=12 if (minutes Sphere: Related Content Also see:BREAKING: Birmingham mayor Larry Langford guilty of bribery, fraud, conspiracyLarry Langford trial, Day 7: Prosecution rests, defense restsLarry Langford trial, Day 4: Blount […]
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 5:46 pm
Adam: Who should step up? And who would want to given the damage done to the office and the city?
Philip: I think the race issue will die down now that he’s out of office. For example, his thug/co-director at the Mayor’s Office of Citizens Assistance Frank Matthews used race divisively in campaigning and in office.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 6:44 pm
[…] wadeonbirmingham.com (blogger, Crestwood resident Wade Kwon): LINK […]
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 11:28 pm
Wade,
That first video above only proves exactly why he was found guilty. Wasn’t LaLa a news reporter prior to his role in politics? The press is just doing their job. Langford should have been doing his. And oh, how he snapped at NBC 13 – classic Larry. LOL
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 12:07 am
I’ll go over this more in a commentary, but Langford has no room to argue. He asked for and got a venue change. He asked for and got a jury who didn’t see the media reports on the arrest and charges. The judge specifically ordered the jury to stay away from media reports, tweets, blogs, etc.
In short, Langford got the exact trial he demanded, just not the verdict.
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 7:28 am
do you think people in bham understand that langford declared yesterday that white people are NOT his peers? that would bring a conclusion of racism by a former city leader. can you imagine the backlash if a convicted white person made those comments? they would probably be charged with some sort of hate crime.
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 8:52 am
by the way if you go to Larry Langford on fb and click on the first free LL you will find horrible threats being made to get guns and shoot white people!
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 3:24 pm
It’s hard to take Langford seriously at this point.
Before, he was antagonistic if you didn’t back his ideas without question. Yesterday, he was a beaten man grasping at straws.
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 6:08 pm
[…] BREAKING: Birmingham mayor Larry Langford guilty of bribery, fraud, conspiracy Wade | It’s hard to take Langford… theresa marshall | by the way if you go to… theresa marshall | do you think people in bham… Wade | I’ll go over this more in a… J Matt | Wade, That first video above only… Wade | Adam: Who should step up? And who would… Philip Griffith | I’m am so glad that… Adam Cox | I’m glad that we can put this… […]
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 1:46 pm
[…] /* Live Date Script- Dynamic Drive (www.dynamicdrive.com) For full source code, installation instructions, 100's more DHTML scripts, and Terms Of Use, visit http://www.dynamicdrive.com */ var dayarray=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday","Saturday") var montharray=new Array("January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December") function getthedate(){ var mydate=new Date() var year=mydate.getYear() if (year < 1000) year+=1900 var day=mydate.getDay() var month=mydate.getMonth() var daym=mydate.getDate() if (daym=12) dn="pm" if (hours>12){ hours=hours-12 } if (hours==0) hours=12 if (minutes Sphere: Related Content Also see:Can Facebook save Larry Langford?Larry Langford: the final wordsHeads up: Busy signalLarry Langford trial, Day 4: Blount gave bribes for bond businessBREAKING: Birmingham mayor Larry Langford guilty of bribery, fraud, conspiracy […]