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Friend or foe Testimony of McPherson's former buddies key as trial opensPosted: Wednesday June 04, 2003 8:33 PMUpdated: Thursday June 05, 2003 11:40 AM
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- When they crossed paths last weekend at a shopping mall in their hometown of Bradenton, Fla., ex-Florida State quarterback Adrian McPherson and Melvin Capers Jr. engaged in a raucous shouting match. McPherson accused his old schoolboy pal of trying to pick a fight, while Capers is said to have been upset because McPherson had threatened his cousin.
So here they were renewing acquaintances Wednesday in a county courthouse, not under the best of circumstances. Flanked by his attorneys and family, McPherson could only listen as Capers and Otis Livingston, another childhood friend, testified against him in a misdemeanor gambling case. Their recollection of events last fall, including details of McPherson allegedly calling Livingston to place a $1,000 bet on the Miami-West Virginia game shortly before taking the field against Notre Dame, is huge to the prosecution’s case. The rest of their Internet-gambling case is built largely on records retrieved from a computer allegedly used by the trio to bet on college and pro football, though McPherson’s name is not on any of the three accounts opened with SBG Global. Capers and Livingston said that was by design, to protect McPherson from any trouble. Neither school nor NCAA officials apparently ever caught on. So it’s the testimony of the two ex-friends, neither of whom is likely to be charged, that has McPherson in a tight spot as his defense takes over Thursday. Asked by McPherson’s attorney, Grady Irvin, about the recent incident in Bradenton, Capers shot back from the witness stand Wednesday: "He ain’t my friend. ... If he was my friend, I wouldn’t be here." To trace the origin of the bad blood, rewind to last November and the disappearance of a blank check from a Tallahassee truck-and-auto accessories shop. McPherson is scheduled to deal with that charge later this month. But the way Capers tells it, McPherson set him up when he asked him to get the check cashed, telling him it was money from a booster (the check was subsequently made out for $3,500). McPherson signed it, so Capers believed him. Everything was fine until McPherson later told him there might be a problem. The quarterback promised he’d straighten it out. Then the cops came by a Tallahassee home Capers shares with Livington. One thing led to another, and soon gambling slipped into one of those conversations. "The only reason I brought it up is the detective said, 'Who is A.D.’s [McPherson's] bookie?'" Capers told SI.com recently. “He acted like he knew what was going on. In my situation, the only way I can get out of it is by telling the truth. They got my picture on tape [cashing the stolen check at a bank drive-through window]. So I ain’t gonna lie to them." In his client’s defense, Irvin made sure the jury knew that neither Capers nor Livingston, both of whom admitted to gambling on the Internet, had been charged. Irvin referred to each as having a "gambling problem" in his opening remarks. Then he went about misidentifying them on three separate occasions during cross-examination, only to be loudly corrected by the witness. Irvin suggested that, among other things, jealousy brought Capers and Livingston to the witness stand. He further suggested the case was fueled by certain members of law enforcement seeking "five minutes of fame." And he made repeated references to "a rumor run amuck" in explaining McPherson’s link to gambling. By day’s end, Irvin managed to do a decent job of taking shots at the computer and other records painstakingly presented by prosecution witnesses. The problem is, as he pointed out, there is no name, no signature directly tied to McPherson. The best they have is 16 calls made to SBG Global last October and November from a cell phone belonging to McPherson. Prosecution witness Selisa Beville, a data analyst for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, testified that 57 bets with SBG Global were placed last fall from an account registered to Capers but that McPherson is said to have used almost exclusively. One was a parlay bet that included seven games, with one being Florida State as a 5 ½-point underdog to Miami. (FSU was the bet) Asked why the account was in his name and not McPherson’s, Capers explained, "Playing sports, you can’t do that." As the defense opens its case Thursday, the witness list is 20 deep and juicy with the likes of head football coach Bobby Bowden and a handful of FSU officials. But it’ll be most interesting to see if McPherson himself steps up to the stand. "We haven’t made that decision," said Chuck Hobbs, a Tallahassee attorney who is assisting the defense. “It’s totally up to [McPherson]. We’ll talk, but it is his call." If he keeps quiet, his ex-friends may have the final word. Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com. Comments? To e-mail Fish, click here.
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