The Nation - News from Jan. 19, 1986

Attorneys for Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards asked for a grand jury investigation of one of the jurors who served in the governor’s recent trial on racketeering and fraud charges. The trial ended in a hung jury largely because Clifford West, 33, held out against most other jurors, who wanted to acquit the governor. Edwards said in a statement he would like to know why West got a federal government job in the middle of the trial and what influence that may have had on his vote. West said there was no truth to suggestions that his role as a juror in the case got him a job at Martin-Marietta’s eastern New Orleans plant, which produces booster rocket fuel tanks for the space shuttle.