I'm right with state Sen. Culver Kidd, left, as he leaves court in Macon in 1978 after acquittal.
There are Habitat for Humanity and efforts in the Mideast. But the legacy of Jimmy Carter as president and very active former president includes an event that riveted Georgia and provided a moment that then was unprecedented in American politics.
In 1978, Carter, who recently turned 85, was a prosecution witness in a criminal trial involving a political foe, state Sen. Culver Kidd of Milledgeville. It was the first time in the 20th century that an American president had testified in a criminal trial. It also marked the first time a president had testified via videotape.
Kidd was an adversary of Carter dating to the former president’s term as governor (1971-75; in those days, governors of Georgia were limited to one term). The state legislator was accused, along with the Baldwin County sheriff, of gambling conspiracy charges. The federal indictment accused Kidd, during the ‘72 Georgia legislative session, of trying to obtain advance notice from Carter — through an intermediary — of state raids on slot machines. In return, Kidd allegedly offered to do an about-face and back an administrative reorganization that Carter sought.
This was also big for me and the Macon Telegraph, which included Milledgeville in its circulation area. Yours truly was the reporter on the court beat when the story broke.
Adding to the intrigue was that federal prosecutors gave immunity to state Sen. Eugene Holley, named in the indictment as the intermediary between Kidd and Carter. A witness with immunity can’t exercise the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Carter had to tape his testimony in Washington in April 1978 because of scheduling conflicts; he disclosed in the deposition (I still have the official court copy) that he also gave written testimony to a grand jury in December 1977. Traveling to D.C. were presiding Judge Wilbur Owens Jr., prosecution and defense attorneys, and court personnel.
“It made a vivid impression on me,” Carter testified of Holley’s alleged proposal from Kidd. After rejecting the offer, Carter said he communicated the matter to aide Hamilton Jordan (who became White House chief of staff) and the chief of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. (In the testimony, Carter was addressed as “Mr.” because the matter happened before his presidency.) The video deposition ran about 50 minutes when played for jurors in Macon.
But things took a dark turn for the feds after that heavyweight testimony was played in court. Holley’s testimony did not jibe with the president’s. Holley testified that the offer to Carter was for an advance notice of “an investigation” and that he felt the matter “had nothing to do with gambling raids.”
Kidd — the only witness in his own defense — emphatically denied making such an offer. And he was acquitted, along with the sheriff, Buford Lingold. (Lingold later disclosed to me that he had refused an immunity offer, saying, “I wouldn’t tell a lie to save my neck. … I ain’t got nothing to put the mouth on Culver about.”)
Prosecutors later disclosed to me that Holley’s court testimony differed markedly from that of his grand jury appearance. However, they were so bruised over losing the high-profile case that they saw no point in pursuing that matter.
Kidd died in 1995. Holley died in 2000. Carter’s legacy lives on in his splendid museum in Atlanta (that’s me during a visit). But the videotaped testimony and a trial of political intrigue was memorable for many.
