Former state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson intends to appeal the 50-month prison sentence a federal judge handed down last week for corruption charges, according to a court filing Monday.
Hutchinson, the son of former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson and nephew of former governor and recently announced presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson, pleaded guilty to federal charges in Missouri and Arkansas as part of a wide-ranging bribery conspiracy involving five former Arkansas lawmakers and six health care company executives and lobbyists.
Timothy Dudley, an attorney for Hutchinson, filed a notice of appeal Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, stating his client's intention to appeal the sentence to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In June 2019, Hutchinson pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and filing a false tax return in federal court in Arkansas. For those charges, Hutchinson faces up to 46 months in prison and was ordered to pay $355,535.10 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and Arkansas Department of Finance.
In federal court in Missouri, Hutchinson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, where he was sentenced last week to 50 months in prison.
The 50-month sentence in Missouri is stacked on top of a previous 46-month sentence Hutchinson received from a federal judge in Arkansas, meaning he faces up to eight years in prison.
Hutchinson, a Republican from Little Rock, became embroiled in a scheme involving others state legislators and an executives of Preferred Family Healthcare, a non-profit located in Springfield Mo.
Executives from Preferred Family Healthcare, Tommy Ray Goss and Bontiea Bernedette Goss, conspired to hire Hutchinson as an attorney to represent the firm in exchange for helping the company with favorable legislation, according to Hutchinson's guilty plea agreement.
As part of the scheme Bontiea Goss and Milton "Rusty" Cranford, an Arkansas lobbyist for Preferred Family Healthcare, gave Hutchinson cash, checks, retainers, wire transfers, attorney's fees and professional referrals in exchange for favorable legislative action from 2012 t0 2017, according to Hutchinson's guilty plea agreement.
The scheme also included other Arkansas lawmakers, Republicans Jon Woods and Micah Neal, both of Springdale, and Democrats Henry "Hank" Wilkins IV of Pine Bluff and Eddie Wayne Cooper of Melbourne, who were paid kickbacks.
Hutchinson served in the Arkansas Senate from 2013 through 2018, resigning in August 2018 after he was indicted.
Woods was convicted of 15 counts of public corruption and sentenced to about 18 years in prison. Neal was sentenced to three years of probation with one year to be served under house arrest after agreeing to testify against Woods.
Wilkins was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $123,000 in restitution. Cooper plead guilty to one count of conspiracy in 2018 and has yet to be sentenced.