- U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III ordered that any of the defendants wanting to plead guilty have until May 29. All three previously plead not guilty in November 2024 following their indictment.
Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, former Jackson mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and former Jackson city councilman Aaron Banks have until Friday to change their plea in the federal public corruption case against them.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III ordered that any of the defendants wanting to plead guilty have until May 29 to enter that plea ahead of the start of the expected six-week trial, which is slated for July 13.
All three previously plead not guilty in November 2024 following their indictment in October 2024.
READ MORE: Owens, Lumumba and Banks plead ‘not guilty,’ face combined 175 years in prison
The indictments stem from a bribery scheme where undercover FBI agents posed as convention center and hotel developers. The sordid details of the scheme included FBI-funded private planes, a yacht, a Miami strip club, and stacks of marked bills.
The October 2024 indictment for Owens showed that he was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, three counts of federal program bribery, one count of use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of making a false statement.
Lumumba was charged with one count of conspiracy to bribery, one count of federal program bribery, one count of use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, one count of wire fraud and one count money laundering.
Banks was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and three counts of federal program bribery.
Over the last year, the trio have sought to have the federal case against them dismissed multiple times, as court filings show their defense attorneys have claimed entrapment by the FBI, suggested the need for a change of venue, and sought to have their cases separated out instead of being tried together.
The bribery scheme also included former city councilwoman Angelique Lee and businessman Sherik Smith, both of whom plead guilty to conspiracy charges in 2024.
