Defense attorneys for Brian Busby and Anthony Hutchison delivered a forceful rebuttal to the government’s case on Tuesday, asserting that although the two men formed a close friendship while Hutchison did business with the Houston Independent School District, there was no conspiracy to defraud the district out of millions.
Dick DeGuerin, representing Busby, adamantly denied that his client ever accepted bribes from Hutchison in exchange for landscaping and maintenance work. He also stressed that, in his roles as general manager of facilities and chief operating officer for the state’s largest school district, Busby never pressured his subordinates to direct such work to Hutchison and is prepared to testify to that effect.
“There was no ‘this for that.’ There was no quid pro quo,” DeGuerin said, slapping the lectern for emphasis as he addressed the jury. “Not only was there no money, no bribe… Brian Busby didn’t do anything.”
In a 33-minute opening statement, DeGuerin also disputed the government’s assertion that a handwritten ledger found in Hutchison’s home recorded bribes, arguing that the businessman did not pay HISD officials, as alleged, for specific work.
“I can’t claim to understand the ledger. It’s subject to opinion and interpretation,” DeGuerin said. “But I can tell you that I believe the evidence will show that Brian Busby did not take money as they think the ledger says,” he added, referring to federal authorities.
DeGuerin’s interpretation of the ledger differed slightly from that of his colleague, Rusty Hardin, who is representing Hutchison. At a pretrial conference last week, Hardin told U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen that the payments documented in the ledger were not bribes, but rather monetary gifts given to HISD officials as a token of appreciation for their hard work.
“Many of the payments made to Busby and others were simply a way of saying thanks for the good work they did—they weren’t bribes,” Hardin said at the time.
Despite their differing arguments, DeGuerin did not dispute that Busby and Hutchison had become close friends over the years that Hutchison’s companies – Southwest Wholesale LLC and Just Construction LLC – did business with HISD. Nor did he dispute that the two men often traveled together, including on gambling trips to Las Vegas and Louisiana.
In fact, much of DeGuerin’s opening statement was dedicated to defending the nature of their relationship. He said the two men first met in 2009 after Hutchison’s wife asked Busby for advice on how they could bid on a contract to mow vacant lots owned by HISD. The couple won the contract and delivered, DeGuerin said.
Two years later, Southwest Wholesale was awarded a contract to mow HISD properties on the city’s south side. DeGuerin argued that while Busby, along with three other individuals, evaluated and scored each bid, the process was kept confidential to ensure that the evaluators did not know each other’s scores.
As Hutchison’s reputation for quality work grew, DeGuerin said, he was eventually awarded contracts to mow properties on the north side of HISD, becoming the district’s “sole provider of ground maintenance services.” DeGuerin said that Hutchison’s reputation for excellent landscaping became so well-regarded that principals began reaching out to Busby to request the same high-quality service for their campuses. Busby would then contact Hutchison to ask him to handle the work, DeGuerin said.
DeGuerin defended that practice, saying, “If you want to go to the top and get something done, that’s what you do. That’s good, that’s not bad. That’s what you’re supposed to do, and that’s not bad.”
DeGuerin argued that suspicions of illegal activity only arose when other contractors, who weren’t receiving as much business from HISD, began to complain about the close relationship between Busby and Hutchison.
The veteran defense attorney also sought to discredit the five former HISD employees who pleaded guilty in October 2021 to accepting bribes from Hutchison in exchange for directing landscaping and maintenance jobs to his companies. Addressing the jury, DeGuerin said, “You’ll have a chance to determine whether their fear of the IRS and the FBI convinced them to be witnesses.”
“It’s awfully intimidating to be approached by an FBI or IRS agent and be shown a ledger and told this proves you took a bribe,” DeGuerin added.
Letitia D. Quinones-Hollins, who, along with Hardin, is representing Hutchison, began her 40-minute opening statement by describing her client’s difficult upbringing and how, despite those circumstances, he went on to become a successful businessman.
After being given up for adoption by his mother, Hutchison found solace in football, eventually playing at Texas Tech, according to Quinones-Hollins. He was later drafted by the Chicago Bears, where he played alongside legends like Walter Payton, and also spent time with the Buffalo Bills, Quinones-Hollins said.
However, Hutchison soon found the NFL to be more political than expected and chose to leave the league, Quinones-Hollins said. He returned to Houston with a few hundred thousand dollars in savings.
While driving through Houston’s upscale neighborhoods of Tanglewood and River Oaks one day, Hutchison encountered a landscaper who offered him $3,000 to mulch yards. Intrigued, Hutchison began to learn more about landscaping.
He visited Houston-area nurseries, took photos of various plants and trees, and learned about types of sod and soil, Quinones-Hollins said. Armed with this knowledge, Hutchison and his wife, Deborah, formed Southwest Wholesale LLC. Deborah handled networking, while Hutchison focused on the hands-on work, Quinones-Hollins said. The company’s first major contract was with HISD for the vacant lots, and it eventually secured more business with the district.
While Southwest Wholesale was not the cheapest option, Quinones-Hollins said, customers knew they were getting a high-quality service.
“We’ve all heard the saying, ‘you get what you pay for,’” she said. “Hutchison is not cheap, and neither am I, Hardin, or DeGuerin,” she added, gesturing to her colleagues. “You get what you pay for.”
Prosecutors allege that Hutchison, through Southwest Wholesale, overbilled HISD by about $6 million over seven years for mowing services that were never performed. Instead of fulfilling the agreed-upon 35 “cuts” per property each year, Hutchison allegedly completed only 20 yet collected payment for hundreds of cuts that were never made. He’s also accused of overbilling for mulch he supplied to the district.
Quinones-Hollins countered that the government’s case was fundamentally flawed and would show that Hutchison had mistakenly overbilled the district. She also claimed that the handwritten ledger, which the prosecution claims tracked bribes, was simply a way for a man who still doesn’t use a computer to keep track of his gambling winnings and losses.
Quinones-Hollins further argued that any overbilling was entirely unintentional and resulted from Southwest Wholesale’s expansion in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. While other contractors scaled back their operations, Hutchison’s company took on a larger workload, which, she explained, resulted in occasional miscalculations. She also contended that Hutchison was not contractually required to mow properties at least four times a month during the summer and that his company could make up for missed work during the off-season.
“Sometimes, even the best-intended prosecutors get it wrong,” Quinones-Hollins said, addressing the jury. “Sometimes, the government gets it wrong and becomes tunnel-visioned. They try to find facts to fit their narrative, but that doesn’t make them right.”
“You can’t prosecute people for administrative mistakes,” she added.
The first witness in the trial, which is expected to last three weeks, was Derrick Sanders, who previously worked in HISD’s construction department. On Tuesday, Sanders spent about four hours on the witness stand, answering questions from Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Searls Johnson, DeGuerin, and Hardin.
Sanders said he was hired by HISD in 2012 or 2013 after working for Cy-Fair Independent School District. He quickly rose through the ranks alongside Busby, and the two developed a close friendship. “There was a natural kinship there,” Sanders said, noting that it wasn’t uncommon for them to go out for drinks or dinner after work.
Sanders said he met Hutchison through Busby, and soon the three men began spending time together outside of work, visiting strip clubs in the Houston area and traveling to Las Vegas to gamble.
In 2014, Sanders said, Busby asked him to find additional work at HISD for Hutchison. Initially, Sanders pushed back, telling Busby that he couldn’t allocate landscaping and maintenance jobs outside the district’s standard process.
But, Sanders testified that Busby became more insistent over time. At one point, Busby allegedly told him, “If you can make this happen, we can all eat from it.” Sanders said he understood this to mean that both he and Busby would receive payments from Hutchison.
After one or two years of delays, Sanders testified that he ultimately agreed to reassign landscaping jobs from other contractors to Hutchison with the understanding that he would be compensated. Although Sanders couldn’t recall the exact number of times Hutchison paid him, he estimated that between 2017 and 2018, he received a total of $60,000 to $70,000.
Each time, Sanders said, Hutchison told him the money was for a specific HISD project. Many of these transactions took place in Hutchison’s Range Rover, often in restaurant parking lots, according to Sanders.
During cross-examination, Hardin elicited testimony from Sanders that he had never received money for work that was not completed. Hardin argued that the payments were merely expressions of gratitude for the times Sanders contacted Hutchison to manage emergency, last-minute situations.
As an “approved vendor” for HISD, Southwest Wholesale could be called upon to perform urgent repairs or tasks, according to Tuesday’s testimony. Hardin argued that Sanders frequently relied on Hutchison for this type of work, presenting a text message in which Sanders asked Hutchison to complete a job as soon as possible.
One of the payments he received, Sanders recalled, occurred in Hutchison’s Las Vegas hotel bedroom. As Sanders left the room, he remembered Busby joking, “Next,” as he entered. Sanders interpreted this as evidence that Busby was also receiving money from Hutchison, though he admitted he never saw the exchange firsthand.
Sanders further testified that when he asked Busby what to do with the cash, Busby instructed him to deposit the money gradually to avoid triggering bank reporting requirements. Sanders said he did not deposit the cash and instead spent it on routine expenses like groceries and dining out with his wife, telling her it came from gambling winnings.
During this time, Sanders continued traveling with Busby and Hutchison to Las Vegas. He testified that while in the city, Busby and Hutchison bought designer clothes, but he didn’t approve of their extravagant spending. “They told me I was too paranoid and ‘to not be a pussy,’” he recalled.
After FBI and IRS agents raided HISD’s offices and the homes of Busby and Hutchison in February 2020, Sanders met with Hutchison at a Galleria apartment. Sanders testified that Hutchison had him strip down to ensure he wasn’t wearing a wire. Hutchison allegedly assured Sanders that if no one spoke out, they’d all be fine.
Sanders said he was approached by federal authorities months later, and he ultimately reached a plea deal, saving him from a possibly lengthy prison sentence.
Monroe Trombly is a public safety reporter for the Landing covering federal courts and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston. Find him @monroetrombly on X, or reach him directly at monroe@houstonlanding.org.
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