FAYETTEVILLE — The five-man, seven-woman jury in the corruption trial of former state Sen. Jon Woods is set to start deliberations this afternoon.
“This courtroom is where the sunshine shines on corrupt politicians,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser told the jurors in his closing statements this morning.
“The good thing about this case is, we have documents,” Elser said. “We have emails and bank records. They don’t lie.”
Evidence presented at the trial included draft legislation by Woods that never became law and, in some cases, was never introduced as a bill. Elser emphasized to the jury that one of the charges against Woods and Shelton, a conspiracy charge, does not require the intended criminal scheme be successful.
To act while motivated by a bribe is enough, according to Elser and the jury instructions.
Reading the instructions to the jury regarding wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering took more than an hour this morning in federal court in Fayetteville.
Woods and Randell Shelton Jr., formerly of Alma, are charged in a kickback scheme for state grants involving Ecclesia College in Springdale. Woods is also charged in a similar scheme for AmeriWorks, a Bentonville company.
Woods faces 15 counts of fraud, all relating to either wire or mail transfers of money. Shelton is named in 14 of the fraud charges. Both are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Woods is also charged with one count of money laundering in connection with the purchase of a cashier’s check.
“It is a crime for two or more people to agree to commit a crime,” U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks said while reading the jury instructions regarding the conspiracy charges. The jury can render a guilty verdict on conspiracy even if the planned crime had never been committed, that instruction says.
Woods and Shelton face up to 20 years in prison on each of the fraud and conspiracy charges, if convicted. Woods faces an additional 10 years on the money-laundering charge, if convicted.
AmeriWorks is a corporation formed by Milton R. “Rusty” Cranford, a lobbyist who is charged in Missouri with one count of conspiracy and eight counts of accepting bribes in an unrelated indictment.
Henry “Hank” Wilkins IV of Pine Bluff, a former state legislator, pleaded guilty Monday to accepting bribes. Wilkin’s kickbacks first came to light in Cranford’s bond hearing in Missouri on March 16.
Shelton and Woods were indicted in March 2017, accused of a kickback scheme involving state General Improvement Fund grants issued in 2013 and 2014. An alleged co-conspirator, Oren Paris III, former president of Ecclesia College in Springdale, was indicted with Woods.
Paris pleaded guilty April 4 to one count of conspiracy. He resigned as Ecclesia’s president and from the private, Christian college’s board before his guilty plea. His sentence is pending.
Paris disguised the kickbacks as consulting fees paid to Paradigm Strategic Consulting, according to the indictment. Shelton then passed the money along to Woods and former state Rep. Micah Neal of Springdale, the government contends.
The kickback allegations involve $550,000 of the more than $717,500 in Improvement Fund grants, the U.S. Department of Justice contends. Woods directed the most grant money Ecclesia received at more than $350,000, court records show.
Neal pleaded guilty Jan. 4, 2017, for his role in the scheme and was the government’s first witness in the case. His sentence is also pending.
Neal had no motive to confess to crimes he did not commit, Elser told jurors today.
Woods directed a $200,000 grant to Ecclesia in September 2013, grant records show. Neal supported a $50,000 grant to the college and Woods another $150,000 in December 2014, also according to grant records. The amount of money Woods is accused of receiving as a kickback isn’t specified in the indictment. It claims much of that money was paid in cash, except for the $40,000 wire transfer from Shelton.
That Oct. 1, 2013, wire transfer was a loan, Shelton’s defense contends.
Woods and Neal also directed $400,000 in grant money to AmeriWorks, court and state records show. Neal said he received $20,000 delivered by Woods for steering $125,000 to AmeriWorks. Grant records show Woods directed $275,000 to the company.
AmeriWorks was incorporated by Cranford and described in a grant application as a work-training program. Cranford, 56, is set for trial June 11 in federal court in Springfield, Mo., on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of accepting bribes in an unrelated indictment.
