JUDGE CASE TAKES TURN WITH PLEA

Co-Defendant Will Help Bodenheimer Prosecution

Just hours after Ronald Bodenheimer became the first 24th District judge in
20 years to be indicted while in office, his co-defendant turned on him and
pleaded guilty, promising to help the government in its investigation.

A federal grand jury Wednesday charged both Bodenheimer and Curley Chewning
with one count of drug conspiracy and three counts of using a cell phone to
commit a crime, framing a business antagonist by planting the prescription
painkiller OxyContin in his truck. The charges carry a potential maximum
sentence of 32 years in prison and more than $1.75 million in fines for
each, although sentencing guidelines usually suggest far less than the maximum.

In a day filled with twists, Chewning, a self-employed small-engine
mechanic in Slidell, agreed to cooperate with the government shortly after
the indictment was handed down at the Hale Boggs Federal Courthouse in New
Orleans. Before U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan, Chewning pleaded
guilty to one count of drug conspiracy and one count of using a cell phone
in a crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann said prosecutors will ask Berrigan to
dismiss the remaining two wire fraud charges at Chewning's sentencing Oct.
23. If Chewning cooperates, prosecutors also may ask the judge to consider
sentencing him below the minimum guidelines determined by probation
officials. She would not elaborate on what type of cooperation Chewning
will be asked to provide.

"Now, he's facing the maximum sentence on two counts instead of four," Mann
said. "He also could possibly earn a downward departure" from the guidelines.

Bodenheimer's legal team, on the other hand, is preparing to fight the
charges, starting at his arraignment Monday. Bodenheimer last week rejected
a plea agreement that would have ensured him of no more than 30 months in
prison in exchange for his aiding the government in its sprawling
investigation of possible corruption at the Jefferson Parish Courthouse in
Gretna.

"Judge Bodenheimer is not guilty," said his attorney, Davidson Ehle III.
"We are going to vigorously defend him against these allegations."

The judge, clad in yellow golf shirt and baseball cap, appeared briefly in
the halls of the federal courthouse early Wednesday. Ehle said he was there
to check in with his pretrial services officer. Bodenheimer has been
suspended from the bench by the state Supreme Court and is under house
arrest, although he continues to collect his $95,946 annual salary.

Two of Bodenheimer's children and a stepson also appeared before the grand
jury Wednesday. David Bodenheimer, the judge's oldest child, is a New
Orleans police officer who helped run his father's Venetian Isles Marina.
Laura Bodenheimer is an employee of bail bonds magnate Louis Marcotte III,
whose telephones, like those of her father, have been secretly monitored by
FBI agents.

Attorney Joe Marino, who represents Laura Bodenheimer, said his client has
been interviewed by the FBI and denies having any involvement in bail bonds
set by her father.

"She works in the forfeiture section of Bail Bonds Unlimited and has no
influence on bail bonds set by her father or any other judge," Marino said.

Chris Edwards, who represents David Bodenheimer and the judge's stepson,
Jason Theriot, could not be reached Wednesday for comment. But Marino said
both attorneys advised their clients to take the Fifth Amendment in
response to any questions.

Few details released

The indictments against Judge Bodenheimer and Chewning are the first be
handed down in the government's extensive public corruption investigation,
which from the limited public statements and actions by federal authorities
appears to center on how bail bonds companies, jailers and judges set,
modify and process the insurance contracts that secure the release of
criminal suspects from jail. A second focus seems to be Bodenheimer's
handling of the divorce and child custody case of restaurateur and hotelier
Al Copeland.

The charges come less than a week after federal prosecutors acknowledged
that FBI agents, with court approval, planted video cameras and hidden
microphones in the private chambers of Bodenheimer and 24th District Judge
Alan Green and wiretapped 20 phones, half of them belonging to Marcotte.

Neither Green nor Marcotte has been indicted.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Magner and
Nancy Newcomb, a senior trial attorney for the Department of Justice's
Public Integrity Section.

"The investigation which led to today's indictments is just one part of a
larger ongoing investigation being conducted in this district," acting U.S.
Attorney Jim Letten said. "It is important for the public to recognize that
the eradication of corruption at all levels of government remains a high
priority of this office."

The last 24th Judicial District Court judge to face prosecution in federal
court was Roy Price, who presided over the court's Division A from March
1982 to Oct. 5, 1983.

Price was convicted of conspiring to make false statements to a Metairie
bank, lying on loan renewal requests and bank larceny. He resigned after a
federal judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison. He served 13 months in
prison and five months in a halfway house. He died Jan. 17, 1989.

Informant allegedly target

According to statements by federal investigators, Wednesday's charges grew
out of wiretaps of Bodenheimer and surveillance of Chewning.

Investigators allege that Bodenheimer enlisted Chewning early this year to
plant three tablets of OxyContin in the truck of a man who had complained
repeatedly to authorities about myriad illegal activities at the judge's
eastern New Orleans marina, from permit violations to drug trafficking. The
man eventually became an FBI informant.

In February, Bodenheimer asked Chewning to get close to the informant to
lay the groundwork for the drug frame-up, according to FBI statements. Then
on April 19, after arranging to meet the man under the guise of discussing
the sale of a propeller, Chewning planted the OxyContin in the glove
compartment of the informant's truck while he went inside a Slidell
restaurant, investigators say.

After his arrest June 5, Chewning admitted to planting the drugs and said
the purpose of the frame job was to have the

informant arrested for narcotics possession, federal agents say.

Ehle said Bodenheimer's indictment came as no surprise, in part because
federal prosecutors had a legal deadline to bring charges by Friday. After
Monday's arraignment, defense attorneys will begin to demand copies of all
wiretapped and video surveillance under discovery laws, Ehle said.

Bodenheimer is being represented by two attorneys, Ehle and Wiley Beevers,
both of whom try cases mostly in state court. Beevers is a longtime
associate of Bodenheimer and has represented him in civil litigation
regarding the marina. Ehle worked with Bodenheimer as a prosecutor in
Jefferson Parish in the mid-1990s, and is a law partner of Michelle Hesni,
the wife of Bodenheimer's former law partner, George Hesni II.

A third lawyer is expected to join the team next week. Eddie Castaing will
take the place of Ralph Capitelli, who resigned last week, soon after
Bodenheimer rejected a plea deal with the government.

Bodenheimer also is expected to contribute heavily to his own defense,
considering his years as a prosecutor in Orleans, Jefferson, and St.
Tammany parishes before he was elected to the bench in 1999.

Joe Darby contributed to this report.