After more than two weeks of trial, jurors began deliberating Monday in the "ghost candidate" trial of former Republican State Senator Frank Artiles.
Authorities claim Artiles recruited "ghost candidate" Alex Rodriguez to run as a third party candidate to eventually syphon votes from incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez in the District 37 race in 2020. Rodriguez successfully received over 6,000 votes in the election and Republican candidate Illeana Garcia beat the incumbent by just 32 votes.
“The only thing that Mr. Artiles told him is just change your party affiliation,” Jose Quinon, one of the attorneys representing Artiles, told jurors on Monday during closing arguments.
Defense attorneys admit Artiles paid Rodriguez for an attorney and his daughter's school tuition, but called those payments legal business transactions and not campaign contributions.
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Florida law permits ghost candidates, but prohibits from people making excessive amounts of campaign contributions over $1,000.
“He lend him money to pay the school. It shows you the kind of person he is. Came to him to lend him money to buy parts, lend him money,” said Quinon while trying to defend the money Artiles paid Rodriguez.
On the other hand, prosecutors said those transactions were money Artiles paid Rodriguez to fix the election and lead Republicans to flip a local seat in 2020. Prosecutors mentioned why would Artiles recommend an attorney if what they were doing was legal.
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“What happens if he doesn’t pay Alex Rodriguez? Rodriguez can go and tell everybody ‘hey this is a sham,”' said Timothy VanderGiesen, an Assistant State Attorney.
If jurors find Artiles made excessive campaign contributions, they will also have to determine how many were over $1,000. Artiles is also accused of conspiracy to make excessive campaign contributions, processing false swearing to an oath, and assisting in the submission of false voter registration.
