NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out an appeal by Cecil Brown, a Eunice cattleman convicted of shaking down Texas businessmen by taking advantage of his long friendship with former Gov. Edwin Edwards.

Brown was found guilty of extorting payments from businessmen wanting to build a juvenile prison in Jena and get waste disposal contracts in New Orleans.

The appeal was Brown's last hope to overturn that conviction, one of two involving shakedowns of people seeking to do business in the state.

Brown also was convicted along with Edwards in a separate riverboat gambling corruption case, which landed Edwards in federal prison this year on a 10-year sentence.

Brown's appeal of that conviction, for which he was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, remains pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

On July 31, 2001, Brown began serving a 4-year, 3-month sentence for the other conviction.

Brown's attorney, Lafayette-based federal public defender Rebecca Hudsmith, said she was disappointed with the ruling but said it would have no bearing on the pending appeal in the riverboat gambling case.

"That's a separate case and it deals with different issues, so I'm still hopeful the Supreme Court will review that case," Hudsmith said. "That one is not over yet for sure."

Hudsmith said she had not spoken to Brown and was not sure when he'd get news of Monday's ruling.

In New Orleans, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said his office had been cautiously optimistic that the Supreme Court would let the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rulings stand in both cases and was pleased to see one of them brought to closure.

However, he agreed with Hudsmith that Monday's ruling had no bearing on the riverboat gambling case.

"You'd always hope for a similar ruling because of some connections between the two cases, but I don't think it's safe to assume that here," Letten said. "I think it's safe to presume these cases will be equally and separately considered."

In the appeal thrown out Monday, Brown had argued that he deserved a new trial because court permission for investigators to use electronic surveillance on him was based on testimony from an untrustworthy witness: Texas con man Patrick Graham.

Brown's appeal said the government misled U.S. District Judge Donald Walter into permitting wiretaps based on untrustworthy information from Graham.

Graham had worked for former Houston Mayor Fred Hofheinz, who accepted a plea agreement in the case and testified against Brown. Hofheinz needed the Louisiana state government's approval to build a $35 million juvenile prison in the state. Hofheinz testified he paid about $645,000 in bribes to Brown to curry Edwards' favor.

Graham testified that in September of 1993 he delivered $245,000 from Hofheinz to Edwards at the Louisiana governor's mansion. Graham told federal authorities that Brown told him Edwards' received bribes "all the time."