Indictment and Conviction
After being fingered by Texas for-profit prison entrepreneur Patrick Graham, who allegedly gave him $845,000 in conjunction with a scheme to locate a private juvenile prison in Jena in La Salle Parish, Edwards was indicted in 1998 by the federal government with prosecution led by U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan. The prosecution soon released transcripts of audio conversations, as well as excerpts of video surveillance that seemed to indicate dubious financial transactions. The Edwards investigation also tarnished the reputation of San Francisco 49ers owner Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., who admitted to paying Edwards $400,000 in exchange for Edwards's assistance in securing a casino license.
Edwards was found guilty on 17 of 26 counts, including racketeering, extortion, money laundering, mail fraud and wire fraud; his son Stephen was convicted on 18 counts. "I did not do anything wrong as a governor, even if you accept the verdict as it is, it doesn't indicate that," Edwards told the press after his conviction. On his way to prison he said, "I will be a model prisoner, as I have been a model citizen". From 2002 to 2004 Edwin Edwards was incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
Edwards' sometime co-consprirator, Cecil Brown, a Eunice cattleman, was convicted for his part in the payoffs in 2002.
In 2004, Edwards filed for divorce from his second wife Candy, saying that Mrs. Edwards had "suffered enough" during his incarceration. In June 2005, the former Mrs. Edwards was arrested for threatening a police officer at a traffic stop in Port Barre, screaming "don't you know who I am?"
In 2005, Edwards was moved to the Federal Correctional Institution in Oakdale, Louisiana, where he served his sentence as inmate #03128-095. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he was scheduled to be released on July 6, 2011. Efforts have been underway since his imprisonment to obtain a presidential pardon or commutation for Edwards, whose 80th birthday was August 7, 2007. Among those supporting the pardon effort are David Treen and Shreveport automobile dealer Ed Powell. Former President George H. W. Bush also supported commuting Edwards' sentence to time served and wrote a letter to the pardon board of then-President George W. Bush. However, Bush denied a pardon for Edwards before leaving office in January 2009.
In 2009, Edwards was listed as an "honorary pallbearer" at the funeral of perennial political candidate L. D. Knox of Winnsboro, who in the 1979 gubernatorial contest, when Edwards was not on the ballot, legally changed his name to "None of the Above" Knox to dramatize his support for the "None of the Above" option in elections.
On January 13, 2011, Edwards was released from prison and served the remainder of his sentence at a halfway house.
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