Petters Trial Day 17

November 20, 2009

Day 17 of the trial of Tom Petters.

I was standing in the park overlooking the Missisippi river at Kellogg Avenue and Robert Street in Saint Paul reading a plaque commemorating the log church that Father Galtier built on this spot when the town was called Pig's Eye, named after Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who owned a popular tavern here back in the pioneer days. The log church was named after Saint Paul and soon the new city changed it's moniker from Pig's Eye to the more respectable St. Paul.

A stone's throw from rock with the plaque is the Federal Courthouse where the Trial of Tom Petters continued today with the testimony of Tom Petters.

The gallery was filled with people in suits carrying legal pads.

Petters's attorney Jon Hopeman asked a few questions before turning over his client to the withering examination of Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dixon.

Dixon read quotes from emails and transcripts of taped conversations in which Petters admitted having knowledge of the fraud. Petters kept insisting that his statements were open to interpretation.

Petters insisted he was going to take care of the money problems at PCI and investigate the fraud. Petters said Deanna Coleman was "mentally ill" when she was wearing the wire and that she asked him "prefabricated questions that set me up".

Petters also said the raid on his business "made matters worse".

By ten o'clock, both the defense and the Government rested their cases.

The judge held a few sidebar conferences with the attorneys and announced that the trial would continue Monday with closing statements and jury instructions.