JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Closing arguments wrapped on Wednesday in the case against former JEA executives Aaron Zahn and Ryan Wannemacher.
The men are charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a proposed bonus plan that prosecutors said could have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars had the utility been sold.
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Attorneys presented their final arguments before jury deliberations began.
The first closing argument came from Zahn’s attorney Eddie Suarez, who spoke before both juries. He argued that the jurors must begin with a presumption of innocence for Zahn, and consider each piece of evidence by looking for reasonable possibilities that are consistent with lawful behavior.
He also said to determine if the elements of a crime have been proven, jurors must consider whether every alternative showing lawful behavior has been ruled out.
MORE: Former JEA board member declines to answer more than two dozen questions related to trial of former JEA executives | Attorney testifies former JEA CEO said he would make $40 million if JEA was sold, and had backing of Mayor Curry | City lawyer testifies she saw issues with controversial bonus plan for JEA execs, even though she was set to benefit | JEA pushed for accelerated plan to sell utility to alter the narrative after public backlash, investment banker says | Former JEA exec testifies she didn’t speak up about controversial bonus plan because she thought board members knew | Ex-JEA board chair had no idea plan she voted for could net $345M in bonus payouts if utility was sold: testimony | As city council auditors pushed for answers on controversial bonus plan, they say they got no response from JEA execs
Suarez drew the jury’s attention to boxes of documents and stacks of evidence, saying there was no piece of evidence reflecting any communication between Zahn and Wannemacher – no paper, no email, no phone record, no text messages.
He told the jury that records of such contacts would be a reasonable expectation if they were engaged in a conspiracy.
Later, Suarez turned his attention to what the JEA board members knew – or didn’t know – when voting to approve the PUP. He said if they had been lied to, they would have been “absolutely outraged,” and the lack of outrage seen on the stand meant they couldn’t rule out the alternative that the board members did know about payouts.
“If the board knew, game over,” Suarez said in court. “If it’s a reasonable alternative the board knew, game over.”
Wannemacher’s attorney James Felman later gave his closing argument, only to the jury that would decide Wannemacher’s fate.
Felman reiterated part of his opening statement, where he said Wannemacher conspired to commit no crime and committed no crime and emphasized that Wannemacher was asked to create a math formula to spit out a figure, and he did.
Felman told the jury that the case comes down to what was in Wannemacher’s mind on the morning of the July 23, 2019 board meeting where he made the presentation on the PUP to the JEA board.
He explained that the former CFO was explaining that the total amount of the payouts would be 10% of the amount that JEA’s value was over a specified target value and that he did it with a good faith belief that it would be accurate for them to be voting on.
Felman also argued that the jury never heard evidence that Wannemacher lied to anyone about anything, saying if he had lied to the council auditor’s office, you would have heard about it from those witnesses.
Felman also recounted parts of the case where Wannemacher did not come up.
He said that none of the strategic planning was driven by Wannemacher, and that in five hours of testimony from Jason Gabriel, who was the city’s general counsel at the time, the only mention of Wannemacher was that he was not at a Nov. 5 meeting with Zahn and city lawyers – the meeting that was one week before the PUP was “indefinitely postponed.”
Testimony ended on Tuesday, but not before an unexpected move by the court when the public, media and prosecutors were ordered to leave the court room.
Zahn and Wannemacher could get up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Now that the JEA case has gone to both juries, what do you think the verdicts will be and why? Share with us below. Your response might be featured on a Channel 4 newscast.