Lawmaker's Lawyers Suggest FBI Entrapment In Bribery Case
CHICAGO (AP) -- Attorneys for an Illinois legislator on trial for bribery suggested during cross-examination of an FBI agent that their client was entrapped by a government informant and federal investigators.
Special Agent Bryan Butler was the only witness to take the stand Wednesday, the fifth day of Rep. Derrick Smith's bribery and extortion trial.
Butler set up the sting that allegedly caught Smith on tape in 2012 taking a $7,000 bribe in return for writing a letter supporting a day care business's state grant application.
Defense attorney Vic Henderson questioned Butler for three hours about sections of the tapes, including one in which Smith hesitated in taking the money. Butler denied telling the informant to keep bringing up the bribe until Smith accepted.
Butler's cross-examination is due to continue Thursday.
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