FAYETTEVILLE -- The five-man, seven-woman jury in the corruption trial of former state Sen. Jon Woods will resume deliberation this morning after getting the case late Tuesday.
"This courtroom is where the sunshine shines on corrupt politicians," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser told the jurors in his closing statement Tuesday.
Woods and Randell Shelton Jr., formerly of Alma, are charged in a kickback scheme with state grants involving Ecclesia College in Springdale. Woods is also charged in a similar scheme for AmeriWorks, a Bentonville nonprofit company.
"The good thing about this case is, we have documents," Elser said. "We have emails and bank records. They don't lie."
Woods' attorney, Patrick Benca of Little Rock, countered in his closing argument: "There's sunshine on everything" in the state's grant approval process.
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.
"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 Tuesday regarding the conspiracy charge.
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.
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. A U.S. attorney in Springfield, Mo., has said those bribes were from Cranford. Wilkins' 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.
Every step along the way of issuing General Improvement Funds grants, from appropriating money for the grants to cutting the check, required the approval of a public body, Benca told the jury in his closing arguments. The Legislature set aside money in the budget for the grants, and a 29-member board at the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District approved each of them that Woods supported.
"It's all open. There is nothing behind the scenes," Benca said. "They want you to look at bits and pieces. They don't want you to look at the whole picture."
A particularly serious omission in the government's case are email messages showing how Ecclesia planned to get out of its financial struggles by launching a long-term plan, not by stringing together state grants to tide the school over temporarily, Benca argued. The hiring of Shelton and lining up grants makes sense in a long-term view, he said.
Paris disguised the kickbacks as consulting fees paid to Shelton's business, 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.
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 didn't commit, Elser told jurors Tuesday.
Attorney Shelly Koehler of Fayetteville gave Shelton's closing argument and attacked Neal's testimony. In particular, she said Neal's account of a payoff behind Neal's Cafe in Springdale was impossible. Neal testified the exchange of $18,000 cash split into two envelopes took place before Christmas 2014.
Koehler showed a timeline giving dates when Neal's travel records as a lawmaker and Shelton's financial records show when they were in Little Rock. There was not a date in December of 2014 where both could have made a rendezvous in Springdale, she said.
Shelton didn't attempt to conceal or obscure financial transactions the government contends were part of the conspiracy, she said.
"It can't be too private if you are filing with the secretary of state," Koehler said of the incorporation of Paradigm. "It can't be too private if you are filing your income taxes. It can't be too private if you are registering with the federal government and the state."
Shelton's plans were stymied once news of the investigation came out, Koehler said.
"Randell Shelton's plans were going to take time to bear fruit. Then this investigation came in like a killer frost on a peach orchard in bloom."
Sean Mulryne, attorney for the public integrity section of the U.S. Department of Justice, defended Neal in rebuttal arguments.
"What makes more sense, that Mr. Neal pled to a crime he didn't commit, risking his livelihood, his family's business and his freedom, or he accepted responsibility for what he's done and came here and told you what happened?" Mulryne said.
"Mr. Woods used his office as senator as a legislative ATM," Mulryne said.
It was no coincidence both Shelton and Elizabeth Newlun, both long-time friends of Woods, landed high-paying jobs at Ecclesia within months of each losing a job.
"Think not only of what happened, but what did not happen," Mulryne said. "What did not happen was anything that would justify paying Randell Shelton more than $267,000 through Paradigm."
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.
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 on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of accepting bribes in an unrelated indictment.
NW News on 05/02/2018