The latest: Commissioner Michael O’Donnell’s trial is in fifth day
.JPG "Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell on his way into the Wichita federal courthouse for a motion hearing Friday.")
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Lacy Gilmour’s name.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell is being tried in federal court this week on wire fraud and money laundering charges alleging he misspent campaign funds. He’s pleaded not guilty to 26 felony counts. The trial kicked off Monday with jury selection and opening statements from attorneys.
Here’s the latest from Friday’s proceedings. For live coverage, go to www.twitter.com/amyreneeleiker.
3:52 p.m.: U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren turned the case over to jurors for deliberation around 3:45 p.m. He plans to call them back into the courtroom at around 4:45 p.m. to release them for the weekend. Deliberations would resume Monday morning.
Michael O’Donnell, in the meantime, has remained in the courtroom to chat with family members, friends and supporters. He is smiling and looks calm.
3:36 p.m.: Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst told jurors that the men whose payments are at the center of Michael O’Donnell’s charges weren’t staffers; “they were merely his friends.”
O’Donnell diverted money from his campaign accounts “to appear to be the big man — the generous man — and to increase his image in their eyes,” she said during the final portion of the government’s closing arguments. She asked jurors to find him guilty.
3:22 p.m.: “The intent here was to win elections, and the intent here was to follow the rules,” Schoenhofer tells jurors about O’Donnell.
“Would an honest man who wanted to be a public servant ... throw his entire life away for $10,500?” — the amount at issue in the indictment. He asks jurors to hand down an acquittal.
3:17 p.m.: Schoenhofer tells jurors the government’s case hollow. “Suspicious is not proof. ... Never before has someone been indicted like this.”
3:08 p.m.: Defense Attorney Mark Schoenhofer tells jurors during closing arguments that the government’s case against Michael O’Donnell is politically motivated and meant to kill the career of a young politician.
“Have you ever seen a more poignant case of adding insult to injury?” he asked, arguing that only fraud in this case is the government’s arguments. “Have you ever seen a more baseless investigation?”
2:30 p.m.: Prosecutors presented their first portion of closing arguments to jurors, saying that Michael O’Donnell had means and motive when he allegedly defrauded donors and laundered campaign funds to pay off personal credit card bills.
“This case is about two things: access and entitlement,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Smith said.
He told jurors O’Donnell used his access to important people and donor money to shower his young college-aged friends with lavish gifts and entertainment, while ignoring the fact that they did little or no legitimate campaign work. Without O’Donnell, he said, those friends wouldn’t have been able to partake in such a lifestyle.
10:35 a.m.: Attorneys have presented all evidence in the case. The jury is released for an early lunch with instructions to return at 12:45 p.m. Attorneys will give their closing arguments at that time.
10:16 a.m.: Jaylen Lane will not testify. He’s in Topeka and hasn’t been served with a subpoena. An attorney, Lacy Gilmour, called to court says she spoke with him last night about representing him in this matter. Gilmour said she isn’t authorized to accept a subpoena on his behalf.
Retired FBI Special Agent Charles Pritchett will testify as a rebuttal witness about a $1,000 check O’Donnell wrote to Lane.
9:43 a.m.: The defense has rested after jurors this morning heard about an hour of additional testimony from Michael O’Donnell. Most of the commissioner’s testimony this morning repeated, summarized or clarified yesterday’s testimony.
Prosecutors told the judge they have three rebuttal witnesses they want to put on to refute O’Donnell’s testimony. It’s unclear if one, Jaylen Lane, who is a close friend of O’Donnell’s, will testify. Prosecutors during their cross examination of O’Donnell asked if recalled writing Lane a bonus check in the amount of $1,000, then receiving a $750 check back from Lane immediately or shortly after.
O’Donnell testified that his memory of such a transaction wasn’t jogged by a campaign finance report prosecutors showed him. That purported transaction is not charged in the indictment.
8:38 a.m.: Commissioner Michael O’Donnell is back in court this morning for the fifth day of trial. He’ll be back on the witness stand. He testified in his own defense yesterday. Prosecutors began cross-examining him and will continue that today.
Prosecutors said yesterday they may put additional witnesses on after O’Donnell’s testimony concludes. One is Jaylen Lane, a close friend of O’Donnell’s.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst told U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren this morning that she’s spoken with Lane’s attorney about his testimony and has asked for a letter promising the government will not charge him with any crimes.
Lane is in Topeka and Furst said she doesn’t know if his attorney has even advised him to travel to Wichita. She said she first spoke with Lane last night.
A rebuttal witness the government mentioned putting on this morning is retired FBI Special Agent Charles Pritchett, who testified earlier this week about his investigation into O’Donnell’s campaign spending.
In response to the news about Lane, Melgren told Furst he will “not hold a trial to receive evidence after lunch.”
“I’m not going to give the case to the jury at 4:30.”
Daily trial coverage
Background: A summary of the issues and what to expect during the trial
Day 1: Lawyers offer jurors differing views on O’Donnell’s reason for writing checks to friends
Day 2, updates: Friend says Aspen ski trip was “winter hang out,” not bonus payment
Day 2, wrap up: Trial gives glimpse of how much O’Donnell paid friends to work on campaigns
Day 3, updates: Jurors hear from key defense witness
Day 3, wrap up: Government rests case against commissioner; O’Donnell to take witness stand Thursday
Day 4, updates: Michael O’Donnell offers character witnesses, takes the stand
Day 4, wrap up: ‘I’m not a thief. I’ve never stolen anything in my life,’ O’Donnell testifies
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 8:41 AM.
