LITTLE ROCK — Lawyers for former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner say prosecutors failed to show Shoffner was paid with any business funds as her legal team continues pushing for her acquittal on 14 bribery and extortion charges.
Shoffner's attorneys on Monday again asked U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes to acquit Shoffner, who was convicted last month of steering state investments to a broker who gave her $36,000 in cash. Prosecutors last week argued that they had proven Shoffner's conduct affected interstate commerce, so the conviction should stand.
Shoffner's attorneys said the ex-treasurer's actions didn't affect interstate commerce because the money she accepted from broker Steele Stephens were his personal funds, not from his firm.
Shoffner, a Democrat, resigned last year after she was arrested by the FBI.
