Both sides basically agreed on the evidence presented in the federal trial of former state Rep. Robin Williams and four others. But where one side saw crimes, the other saw proof of innocence Wednesday.
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Robin Williams' lawyers say he's innocent because the center's board approved the contracts.
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U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. described the attorneys' seven closing arguments as "simply excellent." After spending a full day listening to those arguments and to the judge's instructions, the jury opted to deliberate for a short time Wednesday and return today.
The jury has a huge task in deciding on multiple counts against five defendants accused of conspiring to steal more than $2 million from the Community Mental Health Center of East Central Georgia.
Mr. Williams, former center director C. Michael Brockman, Augusta pharmacist Duncan Fordham and lobbyists M. Chad Long and Rick L. Camp have pleaded innocent to all charges.
"If this case was not so sad, some of this might actually be funny," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Durham told the jury Wednesday.
Mr. Williams, he argued, used stolen money to put his girlfriend up in a million-dollar condo while he was running for mayor. When Mr. Williams told Mr. Camp he wanted $55,000 and Mr. Camp said he didn't have $55,000, Mr. Williams said, "You will," and a check soon arrived, Mr. Durham said.
But the case is sad because the "most helpless people in our society," the mentally ill, the mentally disabled and the addicted who sought help at the mental health center were cheated, he said.
Bruce Morris, an attorney for Mr. Williams, countered that the case is not about how Mr. Williams and the other defendants chose to spend money.
And it is not about whether Mr. Williams and the others might have gotten too much money through contracts with the mental health center, Mr. Morris said.
The only question is whether the men defrauded the mental health center, and they did not, Mr. Morris argued.
The truth, he said, is that the defendants either delivered what they were supposed to in separate contracts or Mr. Williams repaid the money. And every contract was approved by the center's board of directors, he argued.
The prosecutors see conspiracy because Mr. Williams' name wasn't on contracts that benefited him and the others financially, but when Mr. Williams told the center's executives and two board members that he did benefit, the board members expressed no concern, Mr. Morris said.
Mr. Brockman found himself in court only because of his close friendship with Mr. Williams, his attorney Jerome J. Froelich Jr. said. Investigators saw that Mr. Williams made money at the center where Mr. Brockman worked and concluded that some crime must have occurred, he argued.
Mr. Fordham and his drugstore, Duncan Drugs, face a single health care fraud charge, said his attorney, Andrew J. Ekonomou. He cautioned the jury not to lump Mr. Fordham in with the conspiracy.
"It is no federal crime to enter into a contract that's good for you and for the other side," Mr. Ekonomou argued.
Attorneys for Mr. Long and Mr. Camp argued that their clients operated in good faith - a complete defense to the charges.
Mr. Long is barely mentioned in the contract, Daniel P. Griffin argued. Mr. Camp had no idea any crime was going on, so there's no intent and no crime, argued attorney Jay L. Strongwater.
The intent, however, can be seen in the lengths the defendants went to cover their tracks, said Harrison Kohler, of the Georgia attorney general's staff.
And consider, Mr. Kohler said, that while Mr. Brockman is begging the state for more money because he won't be able to make payroll, he's arranging contracts for Mr. Williams and the others to make hundreds of thousands of dollars from the center.
Compare Mr. Williams' million-dollar condo and Mr. Brockman's extravagant cruise ship vacation with the utilitarian buildings of the mental health center, Mr. Kohler asked the jury. The defendants stole from the most helpless in society, he argued.
"It is time for them to pay," Mr. Durham said.
Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.
