Jurors hint at impasse in bribery trial of Illinois state Sen. Emil Jones III

Caroline Kubzansky and Sam Charles, Chicago Tribune on Apr 23, 2025

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CHICAGO — Jurors on Wednesday told the judge overseeing the federal corruption trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III that they may be approaching a deadlock in their deliberations.

In a note late in its second full day of talks, the panel wrote to U.S. Judge Andrea Wood that it may not be able to agree on two counts, those alleging bribery and lying to the FBI, respectively.

“It doesn’t look like the jury can reach a unanimous agreement on counts one and three. Is there any assistance that can be provided,” the jury note read. In a separate note, the jury observed that count one states Jones agreed to accept a bribe and money for an associate and asked if it needs to find both of those things to be true along with other criteria to convict.

The jury is expected to resume its work Thursday morning after further instructions from the judge.

Jones allegedly agreed to help a red-light camera executive with legislation in Springfield in exchange for $5,000 and a part-time job for his former intern.

The trial, now in its third week, featured testimony from the prolific FBI mole Omar Maani, a co-founder of SafeSpeed LLC who admitted to using steak dinners, cigars and cash payments to get his way on red-light camera legislation with politicians. Jones, federal prosecutors allege, was one of those officials— caught on wires laughing over Waygu filets and telling Maani he would “protect” the company from a Republican opponent in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Jones, 46, is charged with bribery, use of an interstate facility to solicit bribery and lying to federal agents. The most serious charge carries up to 10 years in prison, while the others have a five-year maximum term. He is the first sitting member of the Illinois General Assembly to stand trial in almost a decade.

Jones’ lawyers have argued that the senator, who continues to represent the far South Side and south suburban 14th District, was “in the way” of an expansive net of other legislators on the take. They contend that Jones met with Maani at the behest of admittedly corrupt state Sen. Martin Sandoval to try and get a stubborn bill out of committee and that he was in fact trying to distance himself from Maani.

Jurors began deliberating late in the day Monday, following nine days of testimony and arguments. On their first full day of deliberations, they sent several notes to Judge Wood inquiring, among other things, whether they should consider the crime of bribery to have been committed the moment an official agrees to a deal or whether that official’s later actions should influence their decision.

Shortly before jurors were left Tuesday, Wood instructed them that “the crime of bribery as charged in Count 1 has been committed at the time the defendant solicits, agrees to accept or accepts the thing of value, so long as all the other elements of the crime are satisfied at that point in time.”

Several members of Jones’ family have been present for most of the trial, including Former Senate President Emil Jones Jr., who handed off his seat to the younger Jones in 2009.

Jones testified on direct examination that he “always wanted to be a state senator” and held a series of jobs with the state before deciding to run in 2008. Prosecutors sought to poke holes in Jones’ narrative of his career on cross-examination, pointing out that the elder Jones orchestrated his son’s taking his seat in the Senate.

The jury also heard testimony that Jones had provided information about numerous individuals to the FBI and identified photographs of people he dealt with, including “an executive at an organization” that hired one of Jones’ relatives after he’d helped get them funding. Jones was asked to wear a wire for an investigation into Roseland Community Hospital but ultimately did not end up cooperating, he testified.

He has maintained that he decided to fight the charges “because I knew I didn’t do nothing wrong and I had nothing to hide.”

Wood asked lawyers for Jones and the government to reconvene at 8:45 a.m. Thursday to agree on an answer for the jurors’ question about whether Jones needed to accept one or both things of value to be found guilty of bribery.

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