McDonald Trial Again Delayed on ‘Unanticipated Circumstances’ — But Only Till Thursday

After a delay four days short of a month (Sept. 26 to Oct. 23) due to “unforeseen circumstances” or “unforeseen health issues” depending on which attorney’s table you were describing that situation from last month, on Monday morning, October 23, the federal criminal trial of former Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Jennifer Rae McDonald was again put on hold — though this time only for two days. Well, three if you count Tuesday, October 24, which was going to be lost anyway due to the Harrisonburg Federal Courtroom being committed to another case that day.

After court convened at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning (Oct. 23), Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon made the ruling to reschedule the trial to restart Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. after hearing of an evidentiary situation delaying defense counsel’s ability to review some material that was apparently not transferred to the federal level from state prosecutors offices in a timely or usable manner. Lead prosecuting attorney Sean Welsh described “approximately 5,000 emails and 10,000 attachments” forwarded recently to McDonald’s federal court-appointed attorneys that apparently had what Judge Dillon described as “issues with the flash drive”. Those issues may have had to do with document encryption.

If this reporter heard correctly, lead prosecutor Welsh indicated the bulk of the new material did not directly involve the defendant. Despite that, and those flash drive issues being corrected as the prosecution noted, the defense still needed additional time to review the newly readable material to see if it impacted their defense case strategy in any way. The judge referenced a “status conference” held the previous day, Sunday, perhaps explaining defendant McDonald’s absence from the defense table again on Monday, as both sides appeared to know the trial would not be reconvened that day.

Jennifer McDonald after the second of her two state prosecution arrests in the summer of 2019. Below, VSP and FBI at EDA offices in April of 2019, when they searched premises for potential ‘financial scandal’ evidence, including McDonald’s former office and work computer. She was charged criminally at the state level in July and August of that year. Mug Shot Courtesy RSW Jail; Royal Examiner File Photo

Judge Dillon closed the hearing convened at 8:30 a.m., to the public after five minutes of public discussion of the issue. The hearing was reopened about 15 minutes later at 8:50 a.m. After some discussion on the trial reconvening date, having earlier acknowledged the loss of Tuesday to another scheduled case being heard in the Harrisonburg federal courtroom, Judge Dillon said she was inclined to go with her first suggestion of Thursday morning, giving the defense ample time to review the newly available evidence.

With the prosecution down to the final of its 57 witnesses, estimated Monday to be on the stand two hours or less, and the defense likely to call just one or two witnesses, Judge Dillon forecast the 34-count criminal case against McDonald going to the jury by Friday after closing arguments. The jury was then called into the courtroom to explore their availability for deliberations through the coming weekend. Two of the 15 jurors and yet-to-be-named alternates were absent Monday due to health or travel issues. After polling the 13 jurors present, if the case proceeds as expected, in addition to Friday, jury deliberations were slated for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, October 29 through November 1, as necessary. Due to two jurors schedules, Monday deliberations would conclude at 2 p.m., and Tuesday’s at about 4:25 p.m.

With the jury released at 9:15 a.m. until Thursday morning following the deliberation scheduling, Monday’s hearing was recessed at 9:17 a.m. It was scheduled to reconvene at 1 p.m., with the prosecution and defense slated to discuss with the court technical issues moving forward, among those jury instructions.

The 10th Western District of Va. federal courthouse in downtown Harrisonburg. Royal Examiner Photo Roger Bianchini

Background

As previously reported, with well over a million pages of documentation related to the EDA “financial scandal” the McDonald case has been labeled “complex” at the state level. That “complexity” contributed to its being handed over to the 10th Western District of Virginia Federal Court by the State Special Prosecutor’s Office in Harrisonburg/Rockingham County.

Consequently, after inheriting the case from two state prosecutors offices, Warren County (recusal due to staff work familiarity with some defendants) and Rockingham County (complexity, time involvement), on August 25, 2021, a 10th Western District of Virginia Federal Grand Jury handed down 34 federal criminal indictments against defendant Jennifer McDonald on charges including bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. Those charges are related to the alleged misdirection of an estimated $26-million in municipal and EDA assets to personal use and enrichment of McDonald and alleged co-conspirators. The latter are yet to be indicted criminally at the federal level, likely due to speedy trial issues. A number of alleged co-conspirators were charged criminally at the state level, with charges then dropped by Warren County prosecutors to prevent defense motions for dismissal due to looming speedy trial statute violations.

In addition to McDonald settling out of civil court in a “no-fault agreement” to give an estimated $9-million in real estate assets to the EDA, last year a number of alleged co-conspirators were successfully prosecuted in Warren County Circuit Court civil actions by FR-WC EDA contracted counsel. Several other people also settled out of court with the EDA. Total recovery or civil liability on paper was around $24+ million. However, several of those jury civil liability verdicts have been appealed.

EDA civil cases liability chart from around July 2022 – It does not include out-of-court settlements or Samuel North’s liability case ruling several months later.