Atlanta ex-official fights bribery scheme conviction

ATLANTA (CN) — A federal appeals court heard arguments Tuesday from a former high-ranking Atlanta city official who is appealing a judgment sentencing her to 14 years in prison and ordering her to pay $2.9 million in restitution for her role in a bribery scheme.

Mitzi Bickers, who served as director of human services under former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and also worked as a pastor and political consultant, argued that she should be granted a new trial because the lower court abused its discretion.

Her attorney, Marissa Goldberg, told the 11th Circuit panel the lower court erred when it severely limited admissible testimony regarding the history of government cooperation from Elvin “E.R.” Mitchell Jr.

Mitchell was one of the city contractors who reportedly paid millions in bribes to Bickers in order to secure several valuable and lucrative City of Atlanta contracts related to bridge repairs and snow removal between 2010 and 2013. He had previously pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government on the charges against Bickers in exchange for a reduced sentence.

The three-judge circuit panel appeared unpersuaded by Bickers' argument that the lower court limited her counsel's ability to cross-examine Mitchell on matters that could influence his credibility.

"He was pretty extensively cross-examined about his cooperation with the FBI, though," noted U.S. Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum, a Barack Obama appointee.

Goldberg said the timing of Mitchell's cooperation was the ultimate issue, and the government failed to correct important falsehoods in his testimony related to his years of prior government cooperation. Mitchell had already been cooperating with the government in a separate investigation where at one point he was tasked specifically with bribing public officials.

U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Wilson questioned whether such evidentiary issues require such extensive review when there is overwhelming evidence to justify the charges against Bickers.

"When I look at the evidence in this case, it seems to me it's pretty overwhelming, based on the testimony evidence and the documentary evidence that they paid bribes to Miss Bickers in return of these contracts," the Bill Clinton-appointed judge said. "How do you get around that?"

U.S. Circuit Judge Nancy Abudu, who was appointed last year by President Joe Biden, noted that it makes sense for Bickers to focus heavily on Mitchell with regard to her appeal since he was the government's key witness.

U.S. Attorney Tiffany Johnson argued before the judges that Mitchell was cross-examined for hours, and didn't lie during his testimony about his FBI cooperation, but merely couldn't remember certain details.

"Any errors as to Mitchell’s testimony were harmless because the jury had ample opportunity to assess his credibility as a cooperating witness, and there was overwhelming other evidence of Bickers’s guilt," the government wrote in its brief.

While prosecutors rebuffed most of Bickers’ arguments, they asked for the dismissal of four wire fraud charges and a limited resentencing. Since Bickers’ trial, “the law regarding wire fraud has developed significantly,” prosecutors wrote in a June 2023 filing, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings and decisions in other federal judicial circuits.

Federal authorities concluded Bickers' failure to report outside income to the city of Atlanta on disclosure forms, the basis of the wire fraud claims, may not have met those conditions.

Eliminating the wire fraud counts will likely shorten Bickers's sentence, but her attorney told the court a new trial is still "absolutely necessary."

In March 2022, after an approximately two-week trial, a jury convicted Bickers of nine of 12 counts for filing false tax returns, conspiracy to commit bribery, money laundering and wire fraud. The evidence showed that Bickers also instructed Mitchell and another contractor to inflate the cost of their work with the city so that she could be paid a percentage of what they earned. Bickers was found guilty of lying on her 2011 federal income tax return by claiming she earned only $57,896, when she had accepted over $600,000 in bribe payments and purchased a $775,000 lakefront home.

The circuit judges did not signal when they intend to release a ruling.

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