By DEBRA HALE-SHELTON/ ARKANSAS NONPROFIT NEWS NETWORK
A nursing home magnate, one of Arkansas’s highest-ranking jurists and a former judge in shackles were among witnesses in the first week of the federal bribery trial of former lobbyist Gilbert Baker.
Prosecutors sought to weave an intricate tale of political ambition and greed while the defense focused on a key witness’ lack of credibility. Both sides struggled at times to jog witnesses’ memories of events that happened as far back as 2013 and 2014.
Baker, a former state senator from Conway and former chairman of the state Republican Party, is charged with bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy. He is accused of being the middleman in an alleged plot to bribe former Faulkner County Circuit Judge Michael Maggio on behalf of Michael Morton, a wealthy nursing-home owner and campaign financier. Maggio is now serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to accepting a bribe.
Former Faulkner County Circuit Judge Michael Maggio in 2016 at the U.S. District Courthouse in Little Rock.
CREDIT BRIAN CHILSON / ARKANSAS NONPROFIT NEWS NETWORK