Michael O’Donnell wire fraud, money laundering case in jurors’ hands
.JPG "Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell on his way into the Wichita federal courthouse.")
Jurors in the federal wire fraud and money laundering trial of Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell will embark on a daunting task Monday:
They will comb through several hours of testimony and dozens of exhibits that prosecutors say prove the 34-year-old Republican politician took $10,500 in campaign donations and bought friendships with college-aged men. It was all a scheme of O’Donnell’s, they say, to defraud donors and further his social status.
Jurors will pore over even more evidence that O’Donnell’s defense attorneys say shows everything the commissioner did was not only accepted practice in the political world but was also legal under the state’s campaign finance law.
At issue during the five-day trial this week were 26 financial transactions O’Donnell had with four of his friends. Prosecutors contended he wrote 21 checks worth $8,500 from his “Michael for Kansas” and “Michael for Sedgwick County” accounts to two men who did inconsequential or no campaign-related work to earn them.
He used two other men, they allege, to conceal the source of an additional $2,000 by writing each a check and immediately asking for the money back.
The men — Jack Masterson, David Jorgensen, Colby Rankin and Jonathan Dennill — all took the witness stand.
O’Donnell refuted the claims in sometimes-emotional testimony Thursday. He told jurors he cut the checks either as bonuses for previously unpaid campaign services, or because the friends were on retainer for his campaigns. All had value and worked — sometimes “at the drop of a hat” — even at times they didn’t recall doing so or thought they were attending events with him solely as friends, he testified.
O’Donnell is charged with 23 counts of wire fraud — because banks handled the checks in question — and three counts of money laundering. The counts all are felonies that carry the potential of prison time and hefty fines upon conviction.
The government rested its case on Wednesday. The defense rested on Friday morning after O’Donnell testified for a little more than an hour. His testimony started Thursday.
In a final effort to sway jurors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst argued that O’Donnell diverted the money so to his friends he would “appear to be the big man — the generous man — and to increase his image in their eyes.”
He “used his friends to benefit his career,” she said.
“This case is about two things: access and entitlement,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Smith said during closing arguments.
Defense attorney Mark Schoenhofer shot back when it was his turn to address the jury, calling O’Donnell’s prosecution a hollow, politically motivated witch hunt meant to kill a young politician’s career.
He said O’Donnell’s only intent in soliciting and spending his campaign donations “was to win elections” and “to follow the rules.”
“Would an honest man who wanted to be a public servant ... throw his entire life away for $10,500?” Schoenhofer asked. He called the government’s case “a rush job.”
“Suspicious is not proof. ... Never before has someone been indicted like this.”
The five-man, seven-woman jury got the case at about 3:45 p.m. Friday. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren asked them to take an hour to get organized so they could begin deliberations, then sent them home for the weekend.
A verdict is expected next week.
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 7:33 PM.
