Betty Jefferson
Encyclopedia
Barbara "Betty" Jefferson Jackson (born 1938 in Lake Providence, Louisiana
Lake Providence, Louisiana
Lake Providence is a town in and the parish seat of East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,104 at the 2000 census.-Civil War:...

) is the elected assessor
Assessor (property)
An assessor is a specialist who calculates the value of property. The value calculated by the assessor is then used as the basis for determining the amounts to be paid or assessed for tax or insurance purposes....

 of New Orleans' Fourth Municipal District; she was first elected on 1998 February 7 and was reelected in 2002 and 2006. Before her political career in New Orleans she lived for a number of years in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. She is an older sister of convicted felon former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson
William J. Jefferson
William Jennings "Bill" Jefferson is a former American politician, and a published author from the U.S. state of Louisiana. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented , which includes much of the...

.

In 2009 Betty Jefferson was a defendant in racketeering charges also involving her brother Mose Jefferson
Mose Jefferson
Mose Oliver Jefferson was a member of the New Orleans family that includes his younger brother, convicted felon and former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson...

, her daughter Angela Coleman
Angela Coleman
Angela Coleman , daughter of New Orleans Fourth Municipal District Assessor Betty Jefferson, was one of four individuals indicted in 2009 by federal grand jury for the U.S. Justice Department's Eastern District of Louisiana...

, and Renée Gill Pratt
Renée Gill Pratt
Renée Gill Pratt is a local politician from New Orleans. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans...

. On 2009 June 5 all the defendants pleaded not guilty.

At a hearing before U. S. District Judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle
Ivan L. R. Lemelle
Ivan L. R. Lemelle is a United States federal judge.Born in Opelousas, Louisiana, Lemelle received a B.S. from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1971 and a J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1974. He was a law clerk for Robert Collins of the Orleans Parish Criminal District...

 on 2009 June 17, lawyers for Betty Jefferson and Angela Coleman requested a delay from the 2009 August 3 start date for the racketeering trial; at the same hearing, however, lawyers for Gill Pratt and Mose Jefferson requested that the racketeering trial begin as scheduled on August 3. On 2009 July 28, Lemelle delayed the start of the racketeering trial to 2010 January 25.

If proved, the charges—raised under provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—can result in up to 20 years' imprisonment, $250,000 in fines, and stiff penalties of forfeiture. Some of the charges involved fraudulent use of e-mail.

In an article starting on the front page and extending for almost the entirety of another page, Laura Maggi analyzed Betty Jefferson's imputed connection with William J. Jefferson's conviction.
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