JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT)—Three local leaders charged in connection with the Jackson Bribery Scheme have been given a trial date.

At a status conference in U.S. District Court on Friday, Judge Daniel P. Jordan set the trial for July 13, 2026, for Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Ward Six Councilman Aaron Banks, and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens.

The status conference was called, in part, to discuss at least one motion related to discovery and to consult with prosecutors and defense attorneys about a potential trial date.

Comments made at the meeting also revealed new details into the FBI’s investigation into the bribery scandal, with one attorney saying it “went back so much farther” than the start date included in the October indictment, and the potential time needed for a trial, which attorneys say could take as long as six weeks.

As for the trial date, Jordan said he had to “weigh different interests” in determining when it would happen.

“I want to make sure the defendants have the full opportunity to prepare for trial. On the other hand, the public has a right to a speedy trial,” he said. “To delay until October or September of 2026 infringes on the public’s right to a speedy trial.”

Jordan revealed that defense attorneys initially suggested the trial be held in May, June, or July of next year. But later, attorney Carlos Tanner asked that it be pushed off at least until September or October because of the time it would take to review the large amount of evidence.

“I understand the need for a speedy trial. I’m just advocating for a fair trial here,” Tanner told the judge. “I’m looking at what I have. They sent me three external hard drives, and there are apparently more coming.”

Tanner represents Banks, who is charged with conspiracy and federal program bribery.

According to court records, the two-term councilman and former Jackson City Council President received some $10,000 in cash in exchange for his support for a proposed project planned for the property next to the Jackson Convention Center.

Developers also spent some $1,500 on a protective detail for the councilman and $4,800 on employment expenses for one of Banks’ family members.

Said Tanner, “What I don’t want to do is [for you] to pick a date, block a big chunk of your calendar out, and we come back to you, and we eat those words that we represented to you it could be done in that timeframe.”

Attorneys attended the conference in person and via video chat. Much of the hour-long proceedings focused on the large amount of evidence that had been submitted and what still needed to be turned over to the defense.

Tanner told Jordan he’s already received “quite literally 44,000 pages of paper,” 500 hours of audio and video recordings, and cell phone data that the FBI recovered during raids and searches last year.

“With respect to the audio and video recordings, judge… we’re talking individual clips. I don’t want you to assume 500 hours are 500 clips. You have some that are very small. There may be thousands of clips we have to go through,” he explained.

Lumumba attorney Thomas Bellinder backed up Tanner’s statements, also commenting on the “hours and hours” of footage.

“The smoking gun of the case could be walking right past you, and you would never know,” he said. “It’s just going to take some time.”

Lumumba, Banks, and Owens were indicted on federal charges last October for their alleged roles in a scheme to bring a multimillion-dollar project to property next to the convention center.

Charges against Owens, Lumumba, and Banks:

• Owens: three counts of federal program bribery, and one count each of conspiracy, using an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements
• Lumumba: conspiracy, federal program bribery, use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, honest services wire fraud, money laundering
• Banks: conspiracy, federal program bribery

According to court records, Owens allegedly accepted payments to arrange meetings between city leaders and FBI informants posing as out-of-state developers. He also directed the informants on how much they should pay those leaders for their support.

Lumumba allegedly took $50,000 in campaign contributions after he directed a city employee to shorten the length of time developers had to respond to a request for qualifications for the convention center project.

The indictment states the contributions were given to him after he called the city employee in the form of five $10,000 checks.

Campaign finance reports reviewed by WLBT revealed four $10,000 checks were deposited into the mayor’s re-election war chest on April 1, 2024. Those checks were from two businesses associated with Owens, as well as other Owens associates.

All three pleaded not guilty to the charges during their initial appearance back in November.

Initially, a pre-trial conference in the case had been set for December 19. However, on November 26, Jordan declared the case complex and granted a continuance.

“It’s not very easy to get a case declared complex. That happens in rare circumstances,” Tanner said. “Judge, I’m just being frank here, [but] I’ve had cases that necessitated more time than we talked about that were not complex.”

“Even if you look at the indictment, this investigation went back so much further… This investigation went back farther than the time period that the indictment captures,” he said. “From the looks of the indictment, you’re talking about a two or three-month window. The discovery goes back two or three years prior.”

Jordan agreed with Tanner but said once a trial date is set, it will be very unlikely that he’ll change it.

“In the normal course of other criminal cases, oftentimes, you have a couple of continuances, and something comes up, and there’s another continuance,” he said. “It’s not a big deal because you’re talking about a one-week trial.”

“When I set this, this is going to be the day. Someone will have to be in the hospital for us to move it,” he continued. “It’s too hard to move a multi-week trial. So, once it’s set, I don’t want to hear about it.”

Jordan ordered the federal government to turn over all remaining cell phone evidence in the next 30 days and 60 days to turn over transcripts of the audio material. He also set two additional status conferences to address any issues that might come up before the trial. Those status conferences will be in October and April.

Nicholas Cannon, an attorney for the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, told the judge that “we’re probably talking more than 20 transcripts,” and that “we’ve already ordered pertinent parts of the conversations.”

“There are 500 hours. A lot of it, I would say 350 hours of it, is completely irrelevant chatter. They’re entitled to review it. We’re not having a lot of that transcribed because it’s expensive and irrelevant to the case,” he said. “The parts that are relevant, we are going to transcribe and give to them.”

Cannon, who was pushing for an earlier trial date, said prosecutors were willing to share what evidence they planned to use during the trial to help speed up the discovery process.

“I think this can be tried in early 2026. There is ample time to meet with the defendants [and] give them full discovery… Whatever we can do to aid them in making that date happen. If [we need] to give them an exhibit list at the end of the year, we’ll do that,” he said. “Waiting longer… touches on what your honor was talking about – the public’s right to a speedy trial.”

In all, the trial could last at least six weeks. That includes one week for jury selection, two weeks for the prosecution to make its case, and three weeks for the defense.

Cannon, who appeared via video conference, estimated jury selection would take no more than one or two days, something that Jordan quickly corrected.

“I presided over the Frank Melton trial. Jury selection took a full week. We did questionnaires to try to streamline it. This was a district-wide voir dire, and 90 percent of [those questioned said] they had seen the case in the news,” he said. “I suspect it’s going to be at least that here, given the changes in how cases like this are covered.”

“I think [if we pick a jury in] a week, we would actually be doing pretty well.”

See our coverage of the Jackson Bribery Scandal here.

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