Feds say they will retry state Sen. Emil Jones III on bribery charges after jury deadlocked in April
Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that they will seek to retry state Sen. Emil Jones III on bribery charges after a jury in April deadlocked on all counts, leading to a mistrial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Prashant Kolluri made the announcement during a status hearing before U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood.
Jones' attorney, Victor Henderson, asked for time to inform Jones, who was not present in court. The judge did not immediately set a trial date.
Jones, 46, a Chicago Democrat and son of former Senate President Emil Jones Jr., was charged with agreeing to take bribes from an executive of a red-light camera company in exchange for Jones' protection in Springfield against legislation that would hurt the company's bottom line.
Wood declared a mistrial on April 24 after the jury at least twice reported they could not reach a verdict. Before doing so, she polled them individually to hear about their progress. Afterward, she reported that nearly all of them suggested that no further progress could be made.
'Considering all of the elements and the concern that there could be a prejudicial impact of continuing forced deliberations at this point … I think it's appropriate at this point to declare a mistrial,' Wood said at the time.
The jury of seven women and five men had deliberated for about 24 hours over four days before announcing they were deadlocked.
The mistrial came nearly six years after FBI agents confronted Jones at his Roseland neighborhood home as part of a sweeping investigation into bribery schemes involving red-light cameras, liquor licenses and other graft across the west and southwest suburbs.
At the heart of the probe was Omar Maani, co-founder of SafeSpeed LLC who agreed to work undercover for federal investigators after being confronted with evidence he was paying off officials in Oak Lawn in exchange for political support to add SafeSpeed cameras at additional intersections.
Maani, who was granted a deferred prosecution agreement by the U.S. attorney's office for his extensive cooperation, was the star witness at Jones' trial, testifying for the first time in public about his prolific turn as an FBI mole. That cooperation also has netted the convictions of former Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta, ex-Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Anthony Ragucci, and Jeffrey Tobolski, the former mayor of McCook and Cook County commissioner.
According to the charges, Jones agreed to accept $5,000 in campaign funding from Maani in exchange for Jones agreeing not to file a bill calling for a statewide study of red-light cameras, which SafeSpeed considered potentially damaging to its bottom line.
Jones also offered to 'protect' the company from his friend, then-state Rep. David McSweeney, who had filed bills of his own calling for an all-out ban of red-light cameras, according to prosecutors.
The charges allege Jones also asked Maani to give his former office intern a part-time job, which led to $1,800 being paid to the intern in exchange for no work.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
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