Lawyers seek delay in bribery retrial

Former state senator to see courtroom again after jury deadlock on charges

Defense attorneys for Gilbert Baker, the Republican Party operative and former state senator who was acquitted of conspiracy to bribe a judge last month, requested a delay of their client’s retrial, which had been scheduled to start Oct. 4.

Baker was set to stand trial on one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and seven counts of honest-services wire fraud after a jury deadlocked on those charges last month.

The former political fundraiser and past chairman of the state Republican party was accused of acting as a middleman in an effort to bribe former Faulkner County Circuit Judge Mike Maggio to reduce a $5.2 million jury award against Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in 2013 in a lawsuit filed by the family of Martha Bull.

Bull died two weeks after being admitted for a onemonth rehabilitation stint at the center.

Baker’s attorneys, Blake Hendrix and Annie Depper, said in their Wednesday mo

tion to continue that “counsel will not have adequate time and opportunity to prepare for the retrial” due to a backlog of cases both lawyers are set to try this month and next. There hasn’t yet been a ruling on the motion.

“Baker asserts that a continuance best serves the ends of justice,” the motion said. “That interest can only be served by allowing reasonable time to prepare for trial. The ends of justice, Baker contends, outweigh his and the public’s interests in a speedy trial.”

The pleading said federal prosecutors do not object to the request.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Meanwhile, after more than two years of inactivity in Maggio’s criminal case, there were two recent filings — one, a sealed motion on Aug. 25, and the other, a sealed order on Sept. 1.

Maggio, the former Faulkner County judge, pleaded guilty to bribery in 2015 and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

According to online records from Federal Bureau of Prisons, Maggio’s release date has been moved up to Oct. 20, 2021, rather than his initial release date of April 3, 2026.

The Bureau of Prisons’ records also said Maggio is no longer in its custody. Requests to the Bureau of Prisons’ Washington D.C. office about Maggio’s whereabouts were not answered Friday.

Attorneys for Maggio also couldn’t confirm his whereabouts Friday. One attorney couldn’t be reached for comment; another declined to comment on the nature of the sealed court filings.

Maggio testified in Baker’s two-week trial, which began on July 23 and during which Baker was tried for the nine-count indictment handed up in January 2019.

On Aug. 12, after eight days of testimony and four days of deliberations, the jury returned with an acquittal on the conspiracy count and informed Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. that it could not reach a verdict in the remaining eight counts.

Baker, of Conway, was accused of bribing Maggio in the wrongful death suit against Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, owned by Michael Morton of Fort Smith, by funneling $30,000 in campaign contributions from Morton to Maggio through a series of political action committees.

Morton has not been charged with any crimes and has denied any wrongdoing.

At the time of the Bull lawsuit, Baker worked as a lobbyist and fundraiser for the University of Central Arkansas in addition to his outside fundraising and lobbying activities for conservative candidates and causes.

On Aug. 13, Marshall declared a mistrial in the case and gave government prosecutors until Aug. 30 to file their intentions to retry the remaining counts or to move for dismissal.

They submitted notice of their intentions to retry Baker on Aug. 26.