Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III took the stand in his personal protection Tuesday as his bribery trial wound to a detailed, telling jurors he “at all times needed to be a state senator like my father.”
The son of former Senate President Emil Jones Jr. gave jurors a lesson in Springfield 101. He instructed jurors how he as soon as offered license plates for the Illinois Secretary of State. And he acknowledged his curiosity in flight college in the summertime of 2019, which jurors have heard about on secret FBI recordings.
However earlier than U.S. District Decide Andrea Wooden despatched jurors house for the evening, the South Aspect Democrat solely ventured close to the substance of the case towards him when he testified about red-light cameras. He instructed jurors he as soon as noticed a report indicating a digital camera may make greater than $50,000 off violations in a single day. And he stated corporations have been making “hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of {dollars}” off them.
At the very least one juror within the case complained about red-light digital camera tickets throughout jury choice.
Jones III, who filed a invoice in February 2019 {that a} red-light digital camera government noticed as unhealthy for enterprise, is predicted to renew his testimony Wednesday morning. He took the stand shortly after prosecutors rested their case towards him, having referred to as 5 witnesses over 5 days. When Jones III’s testimony is full, attorneys will possible flip to closing arguments.
In the meantime, the senator’s determination appears to sign a brand new development amongst public corruption defendants on the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Jones III took the stand three months after former Illinois Home Speaker Michael J. Madigan made the same move throughout his personal trial earlier this yr.
Members of Jones III’s protection workforce possible consider testifying is Jones III’s finest transfer earlier than his case lands within the palms of the jury. Nevertheless, it additionally comes with dangers. If convicted, prosecutors may accuse him of perjury and argue for an enhanced sentence.
Madigan’s trial ended in a split verdict, with jurors convicting him of a bribery conspiracy however failing to agree on a broader racketeering conspiracy cost. Nonetheless, Madigan faces sentencing in June, and prosecutors already instructed jurors in closing arguments that he lied to them.
On this newest trial, prosecutors say Jones III agreed to guard red-light digital camera businessman Omar Maani within the Illinois Senate in alternate for $5,000 and a job for a former intern of Jones’. The previous intern wound up being paid $1,800 regardless that he did no work.
On the stand Tuesday, Jones III testified that he was a member of 4 committees in 2019. He chaired the Licensed Actions Committee, and he was additionally a member of the Transportation, Native Authorities and Schooling committees.
Requested for examples of what would undergo the transportation committee, Jones III talked about the “red-light digital camera invoice.”
Jones III stated former Senate President John Cullerton championed purple mild cameras “to extend security.” However Jones III famous that his constituents wound up with tickets.
Prosecutors have additionally accused Jones III of mendacity to the FBI. Earlier Tuesday, jurors heard Jones III’s recorded interview with FBI brokers on Sept. 24, 2019.
Whereas talking to the brokers, Jones III acknowledged a lot about discussions he’d had that summer season with Maani and then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval. Nevertheless, Jones III denied that he and Maani had agreed on an quantity for Maani to boost for Jones III’s marketing campaign.
“Did Omar say, like, ‘Hey, , what’s it gonna take?’” FBI Particular Agent Timothy O’Brien stated through the interview. “… Did you guys provide you with an quantity that he was going to donate for a fundraiser or something like that?”
“No, no, no,” Jones III stated.
However jurors have additionally heard a recorded dialog between Jones and Maani from July 2019, wherein Jones III stated, “If you can raise me five grand, that’d be good.”
Jones III additionally instructed the FBI in September 2019 that he “didn’t suggest the invoice would go away” if Maani employed the previous intern.
That appears to contradict one other recording heard by jurors, wherein Maani instructed Jones in August 2019 that he’d assist the intern “100%.”
“And like I stated earlier than,” Maani added, “in case you may simply assist me out with the, ah, the examine to make it to Chicago.”
“You’re good,” Jones III instructed Maani on the time.
On the entire, the trial of Jones III has uncovered one other panel of jurors to the uncooked sort of Illinois politics repeatedly caught on FBI cameras within the final decade. It revealed particulars of a relationship between Jones III and the former intern who labored for him in 2014 and 2018. They swapped textual content messages late one evening in July 2019, when the ex-intern requested Jones for cash whereas visiting a strip membership.
Jones III was 41 on the time, and he had been in workplace for 10 years. The previous intern, Christopher Katz, was 23.
“I need to hang around with u,” Jones III instructed Katz in a textual content message shortly after 10 p.m. on July 6, 2019. 4 hours later, somewhat after 2 a.m. on July 7, 2019, Katz instructed Jones III by textual content he was nonetheless on the membership.
“I need to see u after,” Jones III wrote again.
Jones III testified Tuesday that he would rent interns “each summer season.”
Requested why, he stated had extra cash in his finances and “thought the easiest way to spend the cash was spend it to my constituents.”
Jurors within the case have additionally heard from one of many feds’ most prolific undercover informants, Maani, a businessman who has admitted giving “advantages” to several public officials across Chicago’s suburbs. He wore a wire for the FBI and struck a cope with prosecutors that saved him from a conviction.
Maani insisted on the stand that he “by no means, voluntarily, simply determined to present [officials] cash.
“They at all times requested me for cash,” Maani instructed the jury. “They requested for cash, and I capitulated, and I agreed to present it to them after they requested me.”
