CLEVELAND: She lost her job. She lost her party position. And, now, she faces the potential loss of her freedom.
Still, in the face of this outcome, former Summit County Councilwoman Tamela Lee again refused a plea offer Monday that included a 30-month prison sentence. She instead opted to take her chances with a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.
The process of picking the jury took all day. Opening arguments will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday before Judge Christopher Boyko.
Lee, 58, of Akron, who served on council from 2011 to 2016 and was the second in command of the Summit County Democratic Party until last spring, is accused of accepting small amounts of cash and goods in exchange for using her political influence to help Omar Abdelqader and two of his family members who own a convenience store and several other businesses in the Akron area. She has denied any wrongdoing and has said the Abdelqaders were close friends of she and her husband, who is Arabic.
If Lee was convicted of all six of the charges against her and the sentences were run consecutively, she could face more than 100 years in prison. This stiff of a penalty, however, isn’t expected.
Lee rejected a plea offer by the court’s Jan. 20 deadline and again turned down an offer Monday before her trial began.
All three of Lee’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty and federal prosecutors have said they may call on one or more of them to testify. Omar Abdelqader and Abdelrahman Abdelqader, two brothers, pleaded guilty to numerous federal charges in December and will be sentenced in May. Samir Abdelqader, Abdelrahman’s son, was sentenced to three years of probation in May after pleading guilty to lying to FBI agents during the investigation.
Lee, dressed in a black pants suit with a red blouse, wasn’t alone in court Monday. Her sister, Lucille Humphrey, and two other supporters attended the jury selection, with Humphrey taking notes the whole time. Lee waved and smiled at her supporters several times.
Lee is represented by Timothy Ivey and two other attorneys with the public defender’s office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Barr is prosecuting the case, joined in court by two other assistant prosecutors and two FBI agents from Akron.
Tom Parker, a former Summit County Common Pleas Court judge who is now a federal magistrate, handled the jury selection for Boyko. The selection began with the pool of 40 prospective jurors filling out a lengthy questionnaire that asked a wide range of questions about potential conflicts, including whether they or family members have had any involvement in prior criminal proceedings, have given money to political candidates or know anyone involved in government.
After Parker went through the answers to the questionnaires, he gave the attorneys the opportunity to quiz the jurors.
Barr asked whether any of the jurors know the Arabic language. Part of the government’s evidence will be conversations in Arabic. One juror said she has what she would describe as a “kindergarten-level” understanding of Arabic.
Darin Thompson, one of Lee’s attorneys, asked the jurors whether any of them had a problem with a person marrying someone outside of her race. One juror said she had personal feelings about this and asked to discuss them in a private conversation with Parker and the attorneys.
Thompson told the jurors Lee is accused of doing political acts for bribes, including contributions to her political campaign. He asked if any of the jurors who have given to campaigns — several indicated on the questionnaire that they have — think they wouldn’t be able to contact the person they contributed to if they needed help. None of them raised their hand.
Lee’s trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or on Twitter: @swarsmithabj .