<p>Former Mayor Bill Campbell was acquitted Friday of lining his pockets with payoffs while guiding Atlanta through a period of explosive growth that helped secure its place during the 1990s as a world-class city. However, the jury did find him guilty of three counts of tax evasion.</p><p>Campbell, 52, could get up to nine years in prison and $300,000 in fines. However, legal experts have said its doubtful he would get the maximum sentence in this case. The judge didn't immediately set a sentencing date.</p><p>The federal jury took a day and a half to find Campbell not guilty of racketeering and bribery after a seven-week trial that put his womanizing and his high-rolling, jet-setting ways on display with his wife sitting dutifully in the courtroom for most of the proceedings.</p><p>Campbell had no visible reaction as the verdict was read.</p><p>"I obviously have great regrets that the jury found me guilty of anything. ... I know that I'm innocent," a somber Campbell said afterward, outside the courthouse as he remains out on bail.</p><p>Campbell described the tax charges as "fairly minor," saying they were tied to his income from speeches and public appearances. He said he has always admitted that he kept poor records of that income.</p><p>He stressed that he was vindicated of the "substance" of the trial.</p><p>"I'm satisfied, to a degree, that my honor was restored," Campbell said.</p><p>The trial _ with more than 60 witnesses, including two women with whom he had affairs _ tarnished a long record of achievement, beginning at age 7, when Campbell became the lone black child to integrate the Raleigh, N.C., public school system.</p><p>Campbell, who served two terms as mayor from 1994 to 2002, was indicted two years after leaving office, snared in a federal corruption probe that has led to the convictions of 10 other former city officials and contractors.</p><p>Federal prosecutors charged that Campbell ran the biggest city in the South with a "what's-in-it-for-me" attitude and regarded contractors who wanted to do business with Atlanta as "human ATMs."</p><p>Prosecutors said he took more than $160,000 in cash, campaign contributions, junkets and home improvements in exchange for city contracts, and spent it on gambling trips to Mississippi River casinos and other getaways with his mistresses.</p><p>They said Campbell took in so much money in bribes that he withdrew a mere $69 from his personal bank accounts one year.</p><p>The defense countered that Campbell's extra money came from his gambling winnings and speaking engagements, and that Campbell's subordinates had used his name without his knowledge to enrich themselves.</p><p>Campbell's lawyers repeatedly challenged prosecution witnesses with the same questions: Did the mayor ask you to do anything illegal? Did you see the mayor take any money? With few exceptions, the answers were no.</p><p>Some of Campbell's supporters, who prayed with him outside the courtroom at times and sang the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" in the hallway on the trial's opening day, were pleased with the verdict.</p><p>"Of course, we would have liked 'not guilty' on all charges, but we can live with the tax charges," said Sunshine Lewis, a lifelong friend of Campbell.</p><p>Campbell _ a graduate of two of the South's most distinguished schools: Vanderbilt University and Duke University law school _ was a federal prosecutor and city councilman before getting elected mayor.</p><p>He presided over one of the most prosperous periods in Atlanta history. On his watch, the city grew for the first time in more than 30 years, adding 40,000 people. He was mayor when Atlanta had its moment on the world stage as host of the 1996 Olympics.</p><p>Campbell also helped transform Atlanta's skyline, mostly by shepherding projects started by former Mayor Maynard Jackson. He presided over the construction of Philips Arena and high-rise condominiums and the virtual disappearance of housing projects.</p><p>While he easily won both of his mayoral elections, he was criticized by business interests as soft on crime, and he left the city with an $82 million budget deficit and a crumbling infrastructure.</p><p>His successor, Mayor Shirley Franklin, has worked to clean up what some see as Campbell's messes.</p><p>After leaving office, he had a brief stint as a radio talk show host, then moved to Stuart, Fla., to practice law.</p>
