Former Arkansas lawmaker ordered to prison today; judge says he can't stay free while he appeals

FILE PHOTO: Former state Sen. Jon Woods (left) walks April 4 alongside his attorneys outside the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building in Fayetteville.
FILE PHOTO: Former state Sen. Jon Woods (left) walks April 4 alongside his attorneys outside the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building in Fayetteville.

Jon Woods, the former state senator who is appealing his conviction for accepting thousands in cash kickbacks in return for using his authority to award state grants, must report to federal prison authorities by 1 p.m. today as previously ordered, a judge has ruled.

Woods has been free on bail since his March 1, 2017, indictment and his May 3 jury conviction this year.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks in a Monday order denied Woods' motion to remain free on bail pending appeal.

Brooks sentenced Woods on Sept. 5 to 18 years and four months in prison. He and his attorneys could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The former Republican senator from Springdale shouldn't be allowed to remain free because his grounds for appeal filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals don't meet the legal standard, Brooks wrote in his order Monday.

A person found guilty and sentenced to prison must be detained during appeal unless certain circumstances are met, Brooks wrote. One is that the appeal should raise "a substantial question of law or fact likely to result" in reversal or an order for a new trial, according to the judge's order.

The issues raised by Woods and his attorneys in his request to remain free included destruction of evidence by FBI agent Robert Cessario, who testified that he wiped the memory of his FBI computer, which contained tapes of calls recorded between Woods and another former lawmaker who pleaded guilty, state Rep. Micah Neal, R-Springdale.

The tapes were available on a computer of Neal's defense attorney.

Three other issues included whether Woods performed an "official act" in exchange for a bribe and whether the judge improperly communicated with the jury during deliberations.

In a 29-page order, Brooks said that even if the 8th Circuit finds errors, any would likely be found harmless and disregarded.

Woods did meet some other standards for being free on bail, Brooks wrote. Among them: "not likely to flee or pose a danger to the safety" of others and that the appeal wasn't for the purpose of delay.

A jury convicted Woods of 15 felony counts related to public corruption, including conspiracy to commit fraud, money laundering, and mail and wire fraud.

The former legislator was accused of accepting thousands of dollars in kickbacks in return for authorizing state grants to private Ecclesia College and to a nonprofit startup by former lobbyist Rusty Cranford called AmeriWorks.

Woods received kickbacks on $350,000 in grants to Ecclesia and $275,000 to Ameri­Works, testimony showed.

Woods' prison sentence is to be followed by three years of supervised release, Brooks ordered on Sept. 5.

The judge also sentenced Woods to pay more than $1.6 million in restitution, a $1,500 special assessment and to forfeit $1 million in assets.

At the sentencing hearing, the judge allowed Woods to remain free until today to report to a yet-to-be-named federal Bureau of Prisons location.

Woods' motion asking to be free until his appeal is resolved wasn't filed until Thursday, court records show. The judge said he issued Monday's order without waiting for federal prosecutors to respond.

"The court believes it best to go ahead and rule" so Woods "may have as much advance notice as reasonably possible of what his obligations are with respect to incarceration during his appeal," Brooks wrote.

A Section on 09/26/2018

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