Witness: Got cash, gave Arkansas businessman nothing

So no bribery, ex-state official testifies

The former state official whom businessman Ted Suhl is accused of bribing testified Monday that he didn't consider the cash payments he received indirectly from Suhl to be bribes and that he never used his position to benefit Suhl's businesses.

Steven B. Jones, who was deputy director of the state Department of Human Services from 2007 through 2011, the same time period federal prosecutors say he took thousands of dollars from Suhl, acknowledged knowing that the source of the cash he received through a middleman was from Suhl.

He also agreed that during the monthly dinner meetings at his favorite restaurant in Memphis with Suhl and the middleman, which usually occurred a day or two before he received the money, and for which Suhl always picked up the check, he listened to Suhl's concerns and complaints about state policies that affected Suhl's businesses.

But, Jones said, "I never did anything for Ted."

Although he was in a position to influence operational decisions at the agency that regulated service providers, including Suhl's mental health businesses for youths, he said he didn't have the kind of authority that Suhl believed he did. He said he wanted Suhl to believe that he was looking out for him, however, "because I wanted the money."

Suhl, 51, of Warm Springs in northeast Arkansas is on trial in a Little Rock federal courtroom on six charges stemming from what prosecutors say was a bribery conspiracy that resulted in Jones receiving at least $10,000 to $20,000 from Suhl until the FBI intervened. Suhl's Arkansas-based companies received $125 million in state-administered Medicaid reimbursements in the same period, but it was Jones' fellow deputy director who oversaw the division that handles Medicaid.

Jones, also 51, and from Marion, pleaded guilty in October 2014 to receiving bribes from Suhl and agreed to testify against Suhl. He is serving a 2 1/2 -year prison sentence imposed Feb. 18.

But he testified Monday that "some of the things that have occurred since then," including a June 27 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned a bribery conviction against former Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, "have made me think twice about it."

"At the time I pled guilty, I thought I was guilty," Jones said. But he said he now isn't sure that by just accepting money without performing any "official acts" in return, he really is guilty of the charge.

Legal experts across the country say the Supreme Court decision has raised the bar for federal prosecutors who bring bribery charges, by requiring proof of "quid pro quo" actions -- the exchange of something of value for an official action, and not routine political favors.

But in a pretrial ruling, U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson denied Suhl's request to throw out the charges on the basis of the decision, saying the law the high court cited as "vague" isn't the same one under which Suhl was charged. He said an "official act" isn't required in Suhl's case, but to convict Suhl, prosecutors must prove he intended to influence an official in connection with anything worth $5,000 or more.

The jury trial before Wilson began Wednesday, and Jones was the second-to-last witness for the government. Defense attorneys began presenting witnesses in late afternoon but haven't said whether they plan to call Suhl to the witness stand when the trial resumes at 9 a.m. today.

From the witness stand, Jones elaborated on why he started taking the money from Suhl. He said he "had an arrangement" that began before he worked for the department to help John Bennett, a distant relative and the pastor of the 15th Street United Church of Christ in West Memphis, become a bishop.

Jones said he had a background in marketing and advertising and was a member of the United Church of Christ in Marion, which had once been pastored by Bennett, so he at first agreed to help Bennett for free. But he said Bennett, who died in 2014, later told him that "money was not going to be a problem" and mentioned that Suhl was "a big supporter of his campaign."

Phillip Carter, 46, a former West Memphis alderman and Crittenden County juvenile probation officer, testified last week that he was the middleman who quietly passed bribe payments from Suhl to Jones and who regularly arranged the men's monthly dinner meetings. But Jones testified that when he first began accepting money that Carter passed to him after the meetings, knowing at least some of it came from Suhl, he considered it a continuation of working on Bennett's campaign.

Jones testified that he was still a state legislator when he began working on Bennett's bishop campaign.

"I knew Ted's businesses had some business with the department, but I didn't know the scope of it at the time," Jones said. He said Bennett is the one who asked him to meet with Suhl, who had some concerns about the Medicaid program, and, "I said, 'Well, Medicaid's not my division,' but Bennett nevertheless encouraged him to meet with Suhl, so he played along.

Jones testified that when Suhl discussed problems he had with the department,"I may have said, 'I'll look into it,' or 'I'll think about it.'" He said he did that "to appease him" because "we did not have an adversarial relationship."

Because of the money he started regularly receiving indirectly from Suhl, Jones said, "I wanted to at least be open-minded to" Suhl's concerns.

He called Carter "a local con man" who he believed was trying "to hustle money" from Suhl.

Jones said he never would have accepted a check directly from Suhl at one of the men's meetings, "not for anything illegal," but he agreed that he tried to give Suhl the impression he was "looking out for him from the inside."

Asked about specific requests that prosecutors say Suhl made of Jones, such as encouraging the passage of legislation that would expand the territory for one of Suhl's businesses, Jones said he didn't remember many details.

"It would have been one of those things I said I would look into," he said.

Jones said he told Carter that he had started sitting in on Medicaid monitoring meetings as a way to help Suhl, but, "I wasn't actually doing that." He testified that he made the claim to appease Carter, who "was always trying to get me to do something, so we could show Ted," and so the payments would continue.

When Carter arranged the restaurant meetings between the three men, Jones testified, "I thought it had more to do with Carter needing money, rather than Ted having a problem."

John D. Keller, the lead prosecutor in the case, challenged Jones' statements from the witness stand, comparing them to comments he made during wiretapped telephone conversations with Carter, but Jones said he was only trying to deceive Carter during the phone calls.

On cross-examination by defense attorney Rob Cary of Washington, Jones agreed that one of the reasons he pleaded guilty was that an FBI agent made an "intimidating" visit to the office of his wife, who is a respected physician who runs a clinic for the indigent.

Defense attorneys contend that prosecutors intentionally waited until Bennett died to bring the charges, so that Bennett couldn't defend Jones and Suhl.

Metro on 07/19/2016

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