Sedgwick County Commissioner and former state Sen. Michael O’Donnell was found not guilty in federal court today of 21 counts of wire fraud related to campaign payments.
O’Donnell said he was “relieved” with the verdict. After several hours of deliberation, the jury said it couldn’t come to an agreement on five other charges, including two for wire fraud and three for money laundering.Judge Eric Melgren said it’s up to prosecutors to decide whether they want to retry O’Donnell on those charges. U.S. Attorney for Kansas Stephen McAllister said in a statement after the verdict was announced that his office is “evaluating whether to take the case to trial again” for the five charges the jury couldn’t agree on.
O’Donnell, a Republican, was charged with 26 counts last year after federal investigators looked into his campaign finance reports. Prosecutors said O’Donnell misused $10,500 in campaign contributions, paying his friends who were doing little or no work on his campaigns for state Senate and county commission.
