State Rep. Thomas Reed, the head of the state NAACP, pleaded innocent to federal bribery and extortion charges today, denying he accepted cash and restaurant equipment to help a convicted murderer get out of prison. Reed had no comment after his arraignment before U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, but attorney George Beck said Reed is ``going to prove he's not guilty.'' Thompson set trial for Aug. 8 before U.S. District Judge Joel Dubina. He gave the legislator's attorneys 10 days to file papers challenging the government's case. Reed is accused of accepting at least $15,000 in cash and restaurant equipment to try to secure the early release of a convicted murderer from the state parole board. He also has been indicted on related state felony charges, with arraignment pending. Reed broke the color barrier in the Alabama Legislature in 1970, later helped win state trooper jobs for blacks and recently made a high-profile bid to remove the Confederate flag from atop the Capitol. One of Reed's lawyers is Bill Baxley, a former Alabama attorney general who unsuccessfully prosecuted Reed on bribery charges more than 10 years ago. Baxley said he had no qualms about representing Reed in the pending case. Reed, a Tuskegee businessman who operates two fried chicken restaurants, is one of the first two blacks elected to the Legislature since Reconstruction. ``He's a pioneer in that progressive political process made by blacks in the early 1970s,'' says Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford. ``He was a role model and a great inspiration to many.'' As head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, Reed has moved to the center of controversy in the Confederate battle-flag dispute. The NAACP says the flag represents racism and oppression. It mounted a campaign last year to remove the banner from state capitols here and in South Carolina and from state flags in Georgia and Mississippi. Reed vowed to try to remove the flag himself from atop the building in which Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy in 1861 if Republican Gov. Guy Hunt would not. In February, Reed was among 14 black legislators arrested when they made a symbolic attempt to scale a fence that surrounds the Capitol. The demonstration led many to criticize Reed for his tactics. ``I was out speaking to different groups about the pressing problems of the state and all anybody wanted to talk about was the flag,'' said House Speaker Jimmy Clark. ``I'm not much on issues that attract public attention but are really not that serious.'' Attorneys for the 14 legislators maintain that the misdemeanor trespass charges they face should be dropped. Meanwhile, the flag still flies atop the Capitol. A few weeks before the aborted climb, Reed told a rally that God allowed former Gov. George C. Wallace to survive an assassination attempt so Wallace could suffer as ``a message to whites.'' The comment prompted some local NAACP leaders to say Reed should be removed as state president. Reed later apologized to Wallace. When Reed was indicted, some blacks suggested the charges were related to the flag dispute. Reed has not alleged a direct link, but said Monday that ``it is difficult for me to believe that there is no connection there.'' In 1977, Reed was convicted of offering a bribe to a white lawmaker who opposed Reed's efforts to gain approval for a dog track in rural, mostly black Macon County. The misdemeanor conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court, and Reed was able to maintain his legislative seat. The track later was approved. In 1970, Reed and Fred Gray became the first two blacks elected to the Legislature this century, after a court-ordered reapportionment created two mostly black House districts. Two years later, Reed sued the state because it had never hired a black state trooper. Blacks now make up about a fourth of the trooper ranks. The state and federal charges allege that Reed, a member of the Legislature's Joint Prison Committee, accepted at least $10,000 in cash and $5,000 in restaurant equipment from an uncle of convicted murderer Anthony Dennis Chesser. In return, Reed allegedly attempted to use his position to persuade the parole board to give Chesser an earlier date for parole consideration and a work-release assignment. Chesser, serving a 40-year sentence, initially was given an earlier date for parole consideration at Reed's request, but the parole board later revoked that change and refused Reed's request to give Chesser a work-release assignment. On June 16, a federal grand jury in Montgomery indicted Reed on two counts of violating the Hobbs Act through extortion and three counts of violating the Interstate Travel Act to obtain the $10,000 in cash. Reed faces up to 55 years in prison and up to $1.25 million in fines if convicted. A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Reed on two related felony bribery counts June 20, each carrying a penalty of 1-to-10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. His arraignment on these charges is pending. Reed has remained free on bond.
