RICHMOND — A federal jury found Bob and Maureen McDonnell guilty Thursday of nearly all the corruption charges against them.
The 71st governor of Virginia shook, as if crying silently, as the later counts were read and the potential years in federal prison mounted for him and his wife.
There were gasps and sobs in the courtroom. When McDonnell left the federal courthouse a half-hour after the verdict, he was visibly shaken.
“All I can say is, my trust remains in the Lord,” he said, before ducking into a waiting car, leaving a mass of cameras and reporters behind.
Henry Asbill, one of the former governor’s lead attorneys, said the case will be appealed, but added little else.
This was a disastrous outcome for the couple after five weeks of trial. The guilty counts come with maximum prison sentences that can be measured in decades, though the McDonnells won’t be sentenced until Jan. 6.
Virginia politicians reacted with a mix of shock, sadness, sympathy and, for some, a sense that justice had been done. Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente, whose office brought this case, said it was “a difficult and disappointing day.”
“When public officials turn to financial gain in exchange for official acts, we have no choice but to prosecute them,” Boente said in a written statement.
The jury of seven men and five women heard testimony from nearly 70 witnesses. The jurors’ legal instructions from U.S. District Court Judge James R. Spencer were long and complex.
But the verdict came back fairly quickly, compared to some public corruption trials. Jurors deliberated more than 17 hours between noon Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.
Prosecutors said the McDonnells took more than $177,000 in gifts and low-interest loans from Jonnie R. Williams Sr. in return for helping him with one of his company’s products, Anatabloc. There was no disputing the gifts and loans; the former governor and his wife simply argued that Williams got little in return.
He didn’t get any state contracts or funding, or the state-university-backed clinical trials on Anatabloc that he asked for. But prosecutors showed a pattern of McDonnell and his wife helping in subtle and occasionally not-so-subtle ways.
A meeting here, an event there, a kind word about Anatabloc from the former governor in front of state officials responsible for the employee drug plan. The prosecution showed an email he sent to a key aide, asking him to “see me about Anatabloc” six minutes after he emailed Williams about a $50,000 loan.
Because of the vague lines in federal law that separate modern money-driven politics from true pay-to-play corruption, political scientists and elected officials said going into this trial that it might cause a ripple effect of clarity across the country. It certainly showed that the FBI, and the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Sector in Washington, D.C., are watching.
“Public corruption, particularly among our elected officials, is the FBI’s highest criminal investigative priority,” Richmond Field Office FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Lee said in a statement Thursday.
The McDonnells were found not guilty on a pair of bank fraud charges. They were accused of lying on loan applications because they didn’t reveal loans received from Williams.
Maureen McDonnell was found guilty on an obstruction charge she faced alone. She returned several dresses Williams bought for her after investigators first interviewed her in 2013. She also wrote a note that made it seem she’d planned to give the dresses back all along.
The meat of this case consisted of 11 corruption counts, including two counts of conspiracy. Both McDonnells were found guilty on the conspiracy charges. The jury decided they worked together to take Williams’ money and, in exchange, help push Anatabloc.
Attorneys for the former governor and his wife argued that their marriage was so broken during his term that they couldn’t have conspired together. They brought out embarrassing and personal details, and introduced repeated testimony that painted Maureen McDonnell as a lonely and emotionally unstable woman.
Her attorneys argued that she believed in Williams’ product and developed a crush on him. Her support for Anatabloc, they said, was honest.
Nine of the corruption counts stemmed from individual payments Williams gave the couple as part of the conspiracy. The former governor was found guilty on all of these counts.
On three of them — counts 4, 9 and 11 — Maureen McDonnell was found not guilty. Her husband was found guilty.
Two of those counts stemmed from a $20,000 loan Williams made to MoBo Real Estate, a company the former governor co-owns with one of his sisters. Evidence indicated that the former governor arranged this loan himself, via a text message with Williams.
On other loans, Maureen McDonnell was involved, and in many cases seemed to be Williams’ primary point of contact.
The third corruption count on which Maureen McDonnell was found not guilty stemmed from a golf outing that Williams paid for. She didn’t participate in any of these golf outings, according to testimony in the trial. Oddly, the jury found her guilty on Count 8, which was also tied to golf Williams paid for.
Most days of this trial the former governor walked out of the federal courthouse and down Broad Street to a nearby hotel, responding to reporters along the way. On Thursday, he waited until a car arrived to pick him up just outside the building.
“I don’t want to go out until the car’s here,” he told family members before he exited.
As he got into the car, he appeared to thank members of the media — something he’s done often during this trial. A woman on the crowded sidewalk shouted, “We still love you,” as he left.
Two of the former governor’s sisters declined comment on behalf of family members. Other than promising to appeal, McDonnell’s legal team declined comment as well.
Jurors weren’t available for comment after the verdict was read. During the trial, they left the courthouse each evening by the front door, but used another exit on Thursday.
The verdict was read about 3 p.m. When the clerk read the first count — guilty — the former governor’s head dipped. By count five, he was slowly shaking his head.
One of his daughters gasped and began crying softly. Much of the McDonnells’ immediate family was packed tightly onto a front-row bench, their sobs increasing as each count was read.
At count 9, the former governor held his right hand over his eyes. After a minute, he began shaking.
When the verdict was complete, a marshal stepped over to hand the McDonnell legal team some paperwork. He gave the former governor a pitying glance.
McDonnell’s head was slumped so low it almost touched the table. A quiet sobbing could barely be heard.
Soon thereafter, a grim-faced McDonnell emerged from the courtroom with his family and legal team, and immediately went to a side room to consult with attorneys.
A son and daughter leaned against a white courtroom wall and sobbed together, consoled by their father’s priest.
Daily Press reporter Peter Dujardin contributed to this report. Fain can be reached by phone at 757-525-1759.
