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9 pete haere seomorteniite Pa ad Kelly case ve : casts doubt * on Abscam Combined Wire Services i WASHINGTON — The federal gov- ernment is heading into court again to defend the legality of the FBI's famed Abscam investigation after a judge overturned the conviction of a Florida congressman caught in the corruption Ss. District Judge William B> ye at’s decision to free former Rep. Richard Kelly, R-Fla., does not directly affect the fate of the other five former House members and former Sen. Harri- son A. Williams Jr., D-N.J., who resign- ed from the Senate March They _are owever, lawyers tor Williams and former Rep. Frank Thompson Jr. of New Jersey say dismissal of the charges against Kelly could help their oe Both lawyers said they would read the decision carefully. “We look forward to examining the . decision in the Kelly case because of the many significant Issues raised by Abscam," said Williams’ lawyer, George Koelzer, in a statement releas- ed through his New Jersey law office. Frank Askin, who is representing Thompson on appeal, said he felt, ““Ab- seam is unraveling and I believe this is a piece of the erosion of the prosecu- tion.” Government sources who preferred not to be identified acknowledged that Bryant’s ruling that the FBI's investi- gation had exceeded both the Umits of the law and the “concept of tundamen- tal fairness” is bound to intensify criti- cism of the law enforcement agency. Kelly’s conviction in January 1981 on bribery and conspiracy charges at- - tracted particular attention because he was the only Republican among the seven lawmakers convicted and be- RICHARD KELLY =. - Elated over conviction reversal cause of the dramatic videotape, exhib- ited at his trial, showing him stuffing bribery money into his pockets. Anoth- er singular aspect of Kelly’s case was his defense that he was in fact conduct- ing his own investigation of the bribery scheme in which he was implicated. Judge Bryant, who had presided at the trial, conceded that he had been “disappointed and chagrined”’ at watching Kelly shoving $100 bills into his pockets. And he characterized Kelly’s defense as “bizarre’’ and ‘‘near- ly farcical.” He acted on his authority to overturn a jury’s guilty verdict. Nevertheless, in a 25-page opinion released yesterday, Bryant contended that the goal of “testing the virtue of members of Congress ... appears to have been the sole objective of the (Ab- scam) operation.”” Bryant emphasized that there was See KELLY RULING, page A2