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City Hall Corruption Trial Begins in Dallas DALLAS, TX (KERA) - Jurors in the trial of former Dallas City Councilman Don Hill, and four others, heard opening statements from attorneys Monday. KERA's BJ Austin reports.

It took an hour just to read a "summary" of the charges against Don Hill, his wife Sheila Farrington, former City Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee and two others. They're accused in a bribery and extortion scheme involving city contracts and lucrative tax credits for low income housing developments.

Before the lawyers began, Judge Barbara Lynn strongly admonished jurors to avoid ANY contact with news reports about the case: no radio, TV, newspapers: no Google, Facebook, or Twitter. In opening statements, prosecutor Chad Meachum told jurors that housing developer Brian Potashnik would be one of the witnesses for the government.

Because of the gag order in the case, a plea deal on the part of Brian and Cheryl Potashnik has not been "officially" confirmed. The complex case of bribery, extortion, money laundering, tax evasion and wire fraud is expected to take at least two months.

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