Corrine Brown trial set for April 2017

Jury selection to begin April 24 in congresswoman's federal corruption case

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s federal corruption trial won't begin until April 2017.

Judge Timothy Corrigan decided Tuesday that jury selection in the case will begin April 24 and the trial will begin April 26. 

Brown, D-Florida, and her chief of staff, Ronnie Simmons, are accused of using an unregistered charity to raise $800,000 that prosecutors said they used as a personal "slush fund." Among the 22 federal charges against Brown are counts of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud and violation of tax laws.

Neither Brown nor Simmons was in court Tuesday, but they will be required to attend every hearing going forward.

Brown's and Simmons' attorneys had asked the court to consider pushing the trial back to June because of the amount of discovery material, including 77,000 documents, some 100 pages each. Prosecutors wanted the trial to begin in February.

“We've been spending a lot of hours, a lot of days going through the documents,” said James Smith, Brown's attorney. “We have a general rule that we look at everything three times. That's why we asked for the continuance we requested.”

Smith said that his co-counsel in the case will be Trizia Eavenson, who has experience as a state prosecutor.

“I asked her to join me on this trial because she is an excellent trial attorney and has experience doing complex cases in federal court," Smith said.

Eavenson is expected to file her formal notice of appearance with the court by week's end. She is a FAMU College of Law graduate and is currently a partner in a Brevard County law firm. Smith said she was his student at one time.

Earlier this month, Smith filed a notice with federal court listing motions he may file moving forward, including one to separate Brown's case from Simmons' case.

Smith and Simmons' attorney both said in court Tuesday that they plan to ask the court to “sever the defendants,” meaning Brown and Simmons would be tried separately. One legal expert said that could be setting up their defense in the case. That decision would come in early December.
 
Smith said a motion to dismiss that he listed was "out of an abundance of caution" in case he finds grounds for saying there's insufficient evidence when he gets through all the discovery material the state provided.

Smith said he will also ask the court to admit character evidence on Brown’s behalf. That means he will want witnesses to testify to Brown’s character, and not directly to the case.

Both Brown and Simmons pleaded not guilty.

“What I know personally hurts her is that these charges really go to the core of the type of person she's been all her life, particularly as a public servant,” Smith said.

He said the defense teams are looking at the racial makeup of the grand jury that indicted Brown and Simmons.

“I'm confident that by the time we get to the trial, all parties will have thoroughly reviewed that issue, and I'm confident, knowing this judge, that if there are any issues, they'll be resolved and taken care of,” Smith said.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that the government expects to call 40 to 50 witnesses, and that Carla Wiley, the director of the questionable charity One Door for Education, could be on the stand for days.

The deadline for filing motions in the case will be Dec. 5. The deadline for responses to motions will be Dec. 21.

A status conference and motions hearing will be at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 9 and another status conference will take place March 23.

Both sides estimate the trial will last three to four weeks and seemed hopeful that they could find an impartial jury in Jacksonville.

Brown and Simmons could face more than 300 years in prison each if convicted on all charges.