Gillum’s federal corruption trial is on for Monday

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - The federal trial of former Tallahassee Mayor and Florida Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum will start Monday as planned despite a last-minute “superseding” indictment.

Gillum’s lawyer David Markus said dropping the updated indictment just days before the April 17 trial was “pretty outrageous,” but he told the judge, “We want to move forward.”

“We have our reasons for doing that,” the prosecutor replied.

Defense attorneys for co-defendant Sharon Lettman-Hicks said they do not intend to ask for a delay in the trial either.

Gillum and Lettman-Hicks are facing conspiracy and wire fraud charges for their handling of campaign contributions in his 2018 campaign for Governor. Gillum is facing an additional charge of lying to the FBI.

Thursday afternoon, attorneys continued a lengthy pre-trial hearing which started on Monday.

Over defense objections, the judge ruled that jurors can hear about Gillum’s previous settlement with the Florida Ethics Commission.

There was also mention of an investigator with the Florida Ethics Commission who could be called to testify, but at last check, no witness lists are publicly available in Pacer, the federal courts’ online records portal.

Thursday afternoon, attorneys were arguing at length over which undercover FBI recordings would be played for the jury. Many of the arguments focused on the admissibility of comments made by Gillum’s brother, Marcus Gillum, and former colleague Adam Corey.

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