A federal jury has begun to deliberate the bribery case against Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III after hearing from six witnesses over seven days, including from the veteran senator himself.
The deliberations also followed more than three and a half hours of closing arguments in the case Monday. The jury left to begin to consider the case at 2:34 p.m.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Ardam told the jury that Jones “sold his official power as a state senator” to a red-light camera businessman “in exchange for $5,000 and a $15-an-hour job for his intern.”
But defense attorney Victor Henderson accused prosecutors of a “Dirksen Two-Step,” arguing that Jones never took any money from that businessman, Omar Maani, who has been “a con artist for half of his life.”
Henderson argued that the FBI never sent Maani with an envelope full of cash to give to Jones because “they knew he wasn’t dirty. They knew he wouldn’t take it.”
Jones, a South Side Democrat, is the first sitting state legislator to face trial at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse since former state Rep. Derrick Smith, who was found guilty of bribery by a jury in 2014.
A parade of lawmakers have faced criminal charges in the years since, only to resign from the Illinois General Assembly and admit their crimes. Former state senators Thomas Cullerton, Martin Sandoval and Terry Link all quit shortly before pleading guilty.
When prosecutors filed charges against Jones in 2022, they did so using a document known as an information — which typically signals a defendant’s intent to plead guilty. So Jones was expected to follow the lead of Cullerton, Sandoval, Link and others.
Jones decided to fight the charges instead. He even took the witness stand to testify in his own defense, three months after ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan made the same move in his own trial.
Though much shorter and simpler than Madigan’s, Jones’ trial still exposed a new panel of jurors to raw Illinois politics caught on secret FBI recordings. Jurors heard about the many “benefits” a businessman delivered to suburban politicians, how Jones described the Senate president as the “boss” with “all the juice,” and how Sandoval once studied to be a priest.
FILE – In this June 2, 2019 file photo Illinois State Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, at the Illinois State Capitol, in Springfield, Ill. Sandoval was charged in federal court Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, with bribery and filing a false tax return stemming from his support of the red-light camera industry when he was head of the state’s powerful Transportation Committee. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register via AP, File) ORG XMIT: ILSPR501
AP Photos
Sandoval was the same politician who admitted in 2020 that he’d go “balls to the walls” for the man also accused of buying off Jones. In a separate FBI recording, Sandoval has been described as an “indictment waiting to happen.” He died late in 2020.
Jones’ trial also revealed late-night text messages swapped between Jones and a former intern, in which the ex-intern asked for money while telling Jones he was on his way to a strip club. Jones was 41 at the time, and the former intern was 23.
Jones told the ex-intern, “I want to hang out with u” and “I want to see u after.”
Prosecutors say Jones agreed to protect Maani in the Illinois Senate in exchange for $5,000 and a job for the former intern, Christopher Katz. The ex-intern was paid $1,800 by Maani even though he did no work. Jones filed a bill in February 2019 that could have prompted a statewide study of red-light cameras, and Maani saw it as bad for business.
But Maani was also working for the FBI, having been caught delivering “benefits” to other public officials. The alleged deal between Jones and Maani arose over two dinners in summer 2019 at the downtown steakhouse Steak 48, which Jones has made clear is his favorite spot in town.
“I frequent that restaurant quite often,” Jones testified. “I love their steaks. I go there all the time.”
Maani struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid a conviction.
Prosecutors have also accused Jones of lying to the FBI. While speaking to agents on Sept. 24, 2019, Jones acknowledged much about discussions he’d had that summer with Maani and Sandoval. However, Jones denied that he and Maani had agreed on an amount for Maani to raise for Jones’ campaign.
“Did Omar say, like, ‘Hey, you know, what’s it gonna take?’” FBI Special Agent Timothy O’Brien said during the interview. “… Did you guys come up with an amount that he was going to donate for a fundraiser or anything like that?”
“No, no, no,” Jones said.
But jurors heard a separate recorded conversation between Jones and Maani from July 2019, in which Jones said, “If you can raise me five grand, that’d be good.”
Jones also told the FBI in September 2019 that he “didn’t imply the bill would go away,” if Maani hired the former intern.
That seemed to contradict another recording, in which Maani told Jones in August 2019 that he’d help the intern “100%.”
“And like I said before,” Maani added, “if you could just help me out with the, ah, the study to make it to Chicago.”
“You’re good,” Jones told Maani at the time.
Still, Jones told jurors from the witness stand that he never struck a deal with Maani. Not for the businessman to raise $5,000 for his campaign, and not for him to hire Katz, the ex-intern.
“I didn’t think of it as that,” Jones testified. “The bill was dead.”