TSU's Wiggins found guilty

Jurors on Thursday found former Texas Southern University CFO Quintin Wiggins guilty of misspending nearly $300,000 in public funds on furniture, landscaping and a security system for the private home of former university President Priscilla Slade. The conviction means Wiggins could face life in prison — and it's probably not too good for Slade, who is scheduled to go on trial in August, either.

During Wiggins' trial, prosecutors said he diverted $286,000 in TSU money into secret accounts that were used on personal expenses for Slade, which they said was a violation of university and state procurement procedures. Wiggins' attorneys claimed that Wiggins didn't know he was doing anything wrong and that he was just following university precedent, adding that the purchases were a matter of public record and that no one tried to hide them. That's true to an extent, but we also remember when an investigation into Slade's spending found that Wiggins had cut several smaller checks for large purchases, apparently so they would fall under TSU's limit for competitive bidding. We guess that was just a coincidence.

The punishment phase for Wiggins, which began yesterday, is expected to continue today; Wiggins could face a prison sentence from five to 99 years, or life in prison. As for the conviction's effects on Slade — who has maintained all along that she, too, did nothing wrong in spending nearly $2 million of university money on private expenses from furniture to gym memberships to church donations — KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy said it'll make it a little harder for Slade to prove innocence in her trial. "If a jury found one of the underlings guilty for taking money for her purposes, what do you think theyr'e going to do to her?" Androphy asked. "It's not looking good for Miss Slade."