Day 2 of Jeremy Hutchinson hearing: Sex, lies and famous names

Day 2 of Jeremy Hutchinson hearing: Sex, lies and famous names — Bill Vickery, Dan Greenberg, Jon Woods, John Goodson


Julie McGee, the former girlfriend of ex-state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R-Little Rock), took the stand Tuesday morning in the second day of a pre-trial hearing in U.S. District Court in Little Rock over Hutchinson’s effort to suppress evidence that originated from a Sony laptop McGee gave to the FBI in 2012. Hutchinson said McGee stole the laptop from him; McGee insists he gave it to her as a gift.

In more than three hours of testimony, McGee described a troubled “on-again, off-again” relationship in which Hutchinson used campaign funds to provide her with gifts, vacations and a fake job. When asked by federal prosecutors whether she actually performed work for the campaign, McGee responded, “if keeping him sexually satisfied is considered campaign work.”

In 2012, after one of their many disputes, McGee approached the FBI about Hutchinson’s alleged financial improprieties, setting in motion a sprawling investigation that is only now approaching trial. According to an FBI special agent who testified Tuesday afternoon, Hutchinson himself became a confidential informant in 2014 when confronted with evidence he’d used campaign funds illegally. That July, Hutchinson evidently told the FBI to look into then-Sen. Jon Woods (R-Springdale).

Woods is now serving an 18-year sentence in federal prison for multiple kickback schemes in which he enriched himself using public money. It’s not clear whether Hutchinson’s information ultimately led to the charges against Woods (and several co-defendants) or whether prosecutors in the Western District of Arkansas were already investigating Woods by that time.

Read more: https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2019/06/12/jeremy-hutchinsons-ex-girlfriend-takes-stand-and-whoa