Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA) Copyright: 2003 The Times-Picayune Contact: http://www.nola.com/t-p/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848 Author: Martha Carr, East Jefferson bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) BODENHEIMER REPEATS INNOCENT PLEA Ex-Judge Ronald Bodenheimer pleaded innocent to federal drug and conspiracy charges Thursday for the second time in six months, and his attorney began previewing their attack on the government's use of covert wiretaps to investigate a sitting jurist. Bodenheimer, whose term on the 24th District Court in Gretna ended Dec. 31, calmly reasserted his innocence before Magistrate Judge Louis Moore Jr. Bodenheimer is charged with conspiring to plant three prescription painkiller pills on a frequent critic of his Venetian Isles Marina. The plea came in response to a slightly amended indictment issued this month by a grand jury. The indictment alleges that Bodenheimer tried to recruit two police officers to assist with the frame-up. From Our Advertiser Bodenheimer said little during the five-minute hearing, which occurred in a courtroom not unlike the one in which he presided for three years. After the hearing, defense attorney Eddie Castaing told reporters outside the federal courthouse in New Orleans that he is preparing a motion to suppress the wiretap evidence in the government's case. He says the wiretap approval never should have been granted by Judge A.J. "Buddy" McNamara in 2001. Castaing says the government failed to show sufficient justification in its application for electronic surveillance. He said the surveillance, which included telephone taps and audio and video monitoring of Bodenheimer's private chambers, should be allowed only when conventional investigative measures can't be used. Prosecutors' application for the wiretaps is under seal, on orders from the trial judge, Ginger Berrigan. Castaing also might ask to move Bodenheimer's trial, now scheduled for March 31, to another federal court district if he thinks his client cannot get a fair trial because of widespread publicity in the New Orleans area. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom