MUSKOGEE, Okla. – Former Choctaw Nation Chief Gregory Pyle took the stand Monday afternoon in the trial of the tribe’s one-time construction executive director.

Jason Merida, the Choctaw Nation’s now former Executive Director of Construction Administration was arraigned earlier this year in the Eastern District of Oklahoma on two counts each of theft, tax fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. The charges stem from false billing practices by vendors between 2008 and 2011 while construction efforts were underway at the tribe’s casinos in Durant and Pocola.

During his three hours of testimony Monday afternoon, Pyle refuted claims that he told the tribe’s executive directors to shake down vendors for campaign contributions.

The tribe’s chief for 17 years and assistant chief for 13 years prior to that, Pyle testified he did not handle any of the logistics of his campaigns’ fundraisers since he became chief in 1997. Despite not drawing any opposition in the 2003, 2007 or 2011 elections, Pyle’s campaign annually hosted two big fundraisers: a fall trail ride and a spring golf tournament. Although he could not remember the exact amounts the events generated, Pyle testified that on average, the junkets raised between $10,000 and $15,000 each.

As part of a plea deal, former officials with Builders Steel and Flintco previously testified that their companies were explicitly told what to donate to Pyle’s campaign events and that they were expected to drive the prices up on big-ticket silent auction items.

Among the campaign donations specifically mentioned on the stand was a private dinner with Pyle and then assistant principal chief Gary Batton. The dinner ultimately sold for $50,000 to the owners of Builders Steel, but not before the price was hiked up through a bidding war with a representative from Flintco. Although the price of the meal made Pyle uncomfortable, the full amount of the bid went directly to his campaign’s war chest.

“When it got up in the thousands (of dollars), I thought that was enough,” he said. “When they got it up to $10,000, I got embarrassed. I thought it looked really odd, but figured it was their money and they could spent it how they wanted.”

Unlike some neighboring tribes, the Choctaw Nation does not have any campaign finance laws on the books. Candidates are not required to disclose who their donors are and can accept contributions in any amount from businesses.

After an internal audit of the tribe’s construction department yielded questionable activities by Builders Steel and Flintco, Pyle’s campaign made donations to five charities in the amount equal to those two vendors’ campaign contributions.           

In addition to comments from Pyle, jurors listened to testimony from Michael Burrage, former Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Oklahoma. A citizen of the Choctaw Nation, Burrage is now an attorney in private practice and represents the tribe on a case-by-case basis. He was brought in during the tribe’s internal audit of its construction department and acknowledged on the tribe’s behalf to federal prosecutors that Batton had accepted gifts from Builders Steel.

Speaking in a room that bears his own portrait in the back, Burrage described the internal policies implemented by the tribe in 2012 to require high ranking officials to disclose gifts received while in their official capacity, as well as any business transactions made involving family members. Based on testimony and evidence previously offered during the trial, the policy was implemented more than three years after Builders Steel started lavishing gifts on tribal officials.

Attorneys for both sides spent more than two hours in Judge James Payne’s chambers Monday morning after confidential information appeared online during the weekend. Bailiffs cleared out the courtroom at 11:25 a.m. to allow for each juror to be individually questioned about the disclosure before testimony could begin. 

Thanks to the delay, Batton, the tribe’s current principal chief, did not take the stand Monday. The assistant principal chief for seven years, Batton was subpoenaed by both sides and has been mentioned in several witnesses’ testimonies. He has publicly acknowledged accepting two trips and at least one gun from Builders Steel and has since made charitable contributions to two organizations roughly in the amount of the two trips’ monetary values.