Arnold Jones sentencing continued
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 24, 2017 10:06 AM
Former Superior Court Judge Arnold O. Jones II
WILMINGTON -- Former Superior Court Judge Arnold O. Jones II will wait another two months to learn his fate after a sentencing hearing originally scheduled to take place Monday was postponed until March 27, said Don Connelly, Public Information Officer of the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Jones' 2016 conviction on charges of paying bribes, paying gratuities and attempted corrupt influence of an official proceeding could result in a maximum sentence of 37 years in prison and up to $750,000 in fines.
The jury handed down the guilty verdict after only 33 minutes of deliberation following a five-day trial in October of last year.
The jury found Jones guilty on all three counts, with the prosecution proving beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury the then-senior resident superior court judge bribed a federal agent with cash as well as cases of beer to obtain copies of text messages between his wife and another man.
"They've got a conviction as of right now, and we've filed motions to dismiss based on several areas of contention," said one of Jones' attorneys, Geoff Hulse. "The court, we hope and believe, is taking the time to study those and look at the transcript and decide what merit there is to each of those motions."
Hulse said the motions that have delayed the sentencing have mainly been filed by Jones' defense team, which is made up of himself, Elliott Abrams, Glenn Barfield and Joseph Cheshire.
Evidence presented at trial established that Jones gave, offered and promised cases of beer and $100 to Federal Bureau of Investigations task force officer and Wayne County Sheriff's Office deputy Matt Miller in an attempt to get him to obtain copies of text messages between his wife and another man.
In order to accomplish what Jones requested, Miller would have needed to compel the phone service provider, Verizon, to disclose the text messages to him even though they were not connected to any criminal activity.
During the five-day testimony in federal court, the government called more than half a dozen witnesses to testify against Jones and presented a multitude of evidence, which included screenshots of text messages between Jones and Miller, audio recordings of telephone calls and video recordings of in-person meetings between the two men.
Those videos showed Jones meeting with Miller in his unmarked Chevrolet Camaro in the parking lot of a McDonald's in Dudley to arrange payment for the text messages.
Jones and Miller initially agreed on "a couple cases of beer" as payment.
Before the exchange was made, Miller called Jones and the two men agreed on $100 as payment instead.
Video evidence presented by the government during the trial shows Jones and Miller meeting at the bottom of the staircase inside the Wayne County Courthouse and making the exchange of $100 for the disk containing the messages Jones sought.
FBI Special Agent Ted Lea later testified that the disk never actually contained the text messages Jones sought.
U.S. Attorneys William Gilmore and Adam Hulbig prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.
Hulse said Jones has been and will continue to stay in touch with his probation officer since he is awaiting his sentencing while not in jail.