What a difference a day makes…for Former Senate President Jason Ellsworth, a Republican from Hamilton. 24-hours ago, he was found guilty of Official Misconduct after 6-days of testimony.
Now, Helena District Judge Christopher Abbott has thrown out that guilty verdict, ordering a new trial. Seems the jury, during deliberations, received exhibits they weren’t supposed to see. These were exhibits that were placed into a special file in case of an appeal. They were under seal for the purposed of this trial. Turns out that one of the jurors mentioned those exhibits to Ellsworth’s legal team after the trial ended.
At issue, is 2-contracts totaling $170,000, which the State Department of Administration claims were “artificially divided.” Any purchase with state funds over $100,000 goes to that department’s bid process. The claim is that Ellsworth split the contracts in two so he could award the work to his friend, Bryce Eggleston’s Agile Analytics.
Now, it’s up to the Department of Justice. If they decide on a re-trial, it’ll happen December 14th.
