Attorneys on Friday finished their defense for former state Sen. Jon Woods, who is accused of taking kickbacks in exchange for directing state grants to two nonprofits.
Woods told the judge he did not plan to testify. Woods' co-defendant, Randell Shelton, was to begin his defense next.
Woods was indicted in March 2017, accused of a kickback scheme involving state General Improvement Fund grants issued in 2013 and 2014. Two alleged co-conspirators — Shelton, formerly of Alma, and Oren Paris III, former president of Ecclesia College in Springdale — were indicted with Woods.
Paris pleaded guilty April 4 to one count of conspiracy and agreed to testify for the government. He was not called before the government rested its case Wednesday, but he may testify for the defense. In a hearing Friday morning away from the jury, defense attorneys told U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks they are in talks with Paris' attorneys on whether he will be called as a defense witness.
Prosecutors still have the option to call Paris as a rebuttal witness after the defense rests.
Paris resigned as Ecclesia's president and from the private, Christian college's board before his plea. His sentence is pending. Paris disguised the kickbacks as consulting fees paid to Shelton's company, Paradigm Strategic Consulting, according to the indictment. Shelton then passed the money along to Woods and former state Rep. Micah Neal of Springdale, the government contends.
Elizabeth Newlun, administrative assistant to the president at Ecclesia, acknowledged on Friday that she is the fourth-highest paid employee at the school. The government contends Newlun was hired as a favor to Woods as part of the kickback scheme, which she denied in her testimony on Thursday.
Newlun's son, who served in the Air Force, was killed in action in 2011. He was a close childhood friend of Woods. The position at Ecclesia was just Woods helping out a close friend's mother, defense attorneys said.
The kickback allegations involve $550,000 of the more than $717,500 in state General Improvement Fund grants Ecclesia received from 2013 through 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice contends.
Woods directed the most grant money Ecclesia received at more than $350,000, court records show.
Neal pleaded guilty Jan. 4, 2017, for his role in the scheme and was the government's first witness in the case. His sentence is also pending.
The defense will offer expert testimony and accuse Neal of lying, said Woods' defense attorney, Patrick Benca of Little Rock. A certified public accountant and a law professor who is a nationally recognized expert on the pressure the government puts on suspects to make statements and implicate others are among the remaining witnesses for the defense, he said.
The trial of Woods and Shelton began April 9 in federal court in Fayetteville and is expected to end next week.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.