Two years ago, Michael Maggio was a circuit judge making roughly $140,000 a year.
On Thursday, a federal court granted his request to be declared a pauper for purposes of appealing his sentence for a federal bribery conviction.
The decision by Judge Brian Miller in U.S. District Court in Little Rock followed the filing of a sworn statement by Maggio on Tuesday.
In it, Maggio said his assets include a house valued at $325,000 and a 2003 Honda Accord worth $1,000. Maggio indicated that his wife pays $2,100 per month on the house and said that includes real estate taxes and property insurance.
"Because of my poverty, I cannot prepay the docket fees of my appeal or post a bond for them. I believe I am entitled to redress," said a form statement signed by Maggio, 54.
Maggio pleaded guilty to one count of federal bribery in January 2015. Last week, Miller sentenced Maggio to 10 years in prison. He did not order Maggio to pay restitution. Maggio plans to appeal his sentence, according to court filings by his attorney, James Hensley Jr., earlier this week.
In September 2014, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered Maggio removed from office over matters unrelated to bribery.
Asked about pauper status, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens said that in past cases the court has often appointed a lawyer for the criminal defendant. Unless the defendant's current counsel didn't want to continue in that role, the court tended to appoint that attorney to the case. That way, the appointed lawyer didn't have to waste time and money catching up on the case.
Givens said the ultimate decision on appointing counsel is up to the court.
To substantiate his financial status claims, Maggio completed forms on his and his wife's income sources, their employers and pay, and their bank account finances.
Maggio, who formerly presided over the 20th Judicial Circuit in Faulkner, Van Buren and Searcy counties, reported that his average monthly income from employment has been $100 during the past 12 months and that his wife's was $3,100. He indicated that she expects to make the same next month but that he expects to make nothing then.
Maggio also said he had worked for a Mississippi employer between February 2015 and February 2016, making $150 a month.
Between February 2015 and April of this year, he wrote, his employer has been M&M in Conway at $800 a month.
In March 2015, an oil-field services company named M&M Environmental Group said it had laid off 200 employees in response to its main contract being terminated.
Hensley said Thursday that he did not know the specifics of his client's employment with M&M.
The gross monthly pay for the past two years for Maggio's wife, Dawn, has been $5,250 at a Little Rock business, according to the submitted form. It noted that she has worked there since February 2011. It was unclear whether the $5,250 and the $3,100 were in conflict or if there was an explanation for the different amounts reported.
Together, Dawn and Michael Maggio have received $650 in monthly gifts over the past year and expect the same amount next month, he wrote. He said he has $50 in one checking account, and she has a total of $4,525 in two such accounts.
The forms also indicate that Maggio or his spouse support three children, ages 18, 19 and 23. Maggio and his wife have children from previous marriages.
The forms asked Maggio if he had spent or would be spending any money for expenses or attorney fees on "this lawsuit." He checked no, but it was unclear what the document meant by "lawsuit" since Maggio's case is a criminal one, not a civil one.
In September 2014, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered him permanently removed from office, in part because of online comments he made about various topics, including women, sex, bestiality and a legally confidential adoption involving actress Charlize Theron.
In January 2015, without any public notice, Maggio pleaded guilty to federal bribery. He was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison, starting May 23.
A Section on 04/01/2016