CONWAY -- A judge should not allow former Circuit Judge Michael Maggio's plea agreement as evidence in the trial of a corruption lawsuit against nursing-home owner Michael Morton, Morton's attorneys said Friday.
The attorneys commented in a document seeking dismissal of the lawsuit filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court against Morton and a campaign fundraiser for Maggio, Gilbert Baker. The lawsuit accuses the men of conspiring to bribe Maggio to lower a $5.2 million judgment in a negligence lawsuit over the 2008 death of nursing-home patient Martha Bull of Perryville.
"Because Maggio has attempted to withdraw his plea agreement and has made contradictory statements under oath denying any bribery or communication regarding the Bull judgment, the statements Maggio made in his plea agreement and at his plea hearing lack trustworthiness," Morton attorneys John Everett and Kirkman Dougherty wrote.
Everett and Dougherty contend the plea agreement and some other evidence that Bull's family wants to present to jurors are hearsay and should not be admitted, especially because Maggio has tried to withdraw the plea deal and because his statements conflict with other statements he also made under oath.
Maggio's testimony before the Arkansas Ethics Commission in 2014 conflicts with Maggio's subsequent plea agreement, Morton's attorneys noted. While testimony before the commission staff would be legitimate evidence, they said, the staff's unsworn summaries of what witnesses testified would also be hearsay and inadmissible.
In July 2013, two days after Morton sent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to 10 political action committees, Maggio lowered the award to $1 million. Morton has said he understood that his donations were to help Maggio's campaign, and some of the PACs later gave to it.
In January 2015, Maggio pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge and implicated two other people in his plea agreement. Though not identified by name, Morton and Baker have said they believe Maggio was referring to them. Morton and Baker have denied wrongdoing and are not charged with a crime.
In March of this year, a federal judge refused to let Maggio withdraw the guilty plea and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Maggio has appealed.
Lawyers for Bull's family have submitted newspaper articles containing statements by Morton as part of their argument against a defense request that Special Circuit Judge David Laser dismiss the case. But Morton's lawyers argued Friday that the articles "are double hearsay" and inadmissible.
"The only admissible evidence that Plaintiffs have submitted to prove their claim [that Morton bribed Maggio] are certain statements that Maggio made in his plea agreement and at his plea hearing," but those statements are "discredited" by his conflicting remarks beforehand and afterward, Morton's attorneys argued.
"Plaintiffs' case is built on a weak foundation that is made up of contradictory statements, speculation and conjecture," they wrote.
In a separate filing Friday, Morton's attorneys argued for allowing retired U.S. District Judge James Moody Sr. to testify as an expert witness for the defense.
Bull's family contends it doesn't matter whether an impartial judge would also have lowered the $5.2 million judgment as Maggio did, Morton's attorneys said.
"This cannot be true because if an impartial judge would have reached the same conclusion and remitted the Bull verdict, then Plaintiffs suffered no damages as a result of the conduct they complain about in this case," Morton's lawyers wrote.
"Judge Moody's expert testimony ... will be helpful to the jurors who will likely have no knowledge or experience with excessive jury verdict and the standards for considering a motion" to lower such a monetary judgment, they added.
Metro on 10/08/2016