Defense for Ascension President Matassa wants tax returns from chief accuser, Lawson – The Advocate

GONZALES A. Wayne Lawson, a key witness in the attempted election bribery case against Ascension Parish President Kenny Matassa and a Gonzales business man, failed to turn over his tax returns Monday morning as required by a subpoena from Matassa's defense team.

The Louisiana Attorney General's Office plans to send investigators to find Lawson and have him turn over the records by 9 a.m. Wednesday, an assistant attorney general said Monday in Gonzales.

The missing tax records came to light Monday at the Parish Courthouse Annex in Gonzales as prosecution and defense attorneys gathered before Judge Jason Verdigets of the 23rd Judicial District Court in Gonzales.

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Verdigets issued a bench warrant for Lawson but it won't be executed for 48 hours to give Lawson time to turn over the records.

Matassa and Olin Berthelot, a finance company owner and longtime ally of Matassa, have been accused of offering Lawson $1,200 to fix his food truck trailer and a parish job in exchange for his dropping out of a Gonzales City Council race last year. Lawson has said he never took the attempted bribe and never left the election, though he lost last fall.

Matassa and Berthelot, who were in court Monday, have denied the allegations, instead saying the $1,200 was a loan to a friend and the talk about dropping out was unrelated political advice.

After court Monday, Matassa defense attorney Lewis Unglesby declined to say why he wanted the tax returns.

In court, Unglesby also pressed the Attorney General's office to specify what the bribe was that his client allegedly offered to Lawson. Steven Moore, defense attorney for Berthelot, made the same request.

But Assistant Attorney General Jeff Traylor told Verdigets the state doesn't have to say because it has turned over the records in the case, known as "open file discovery."

Verdigets did not rule on Unglesby's request but gave the defense a week to file briefs.

Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.

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Defense for Ascension President Matassa wants tax returns from chief accuser, Lawson - The Advocate