A jury in Akron now will decide whether two former FirstEnergy executives are guilty of bribing the late former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The defense and prosecution wrapped up their closing statements in the trial of Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling, who are accused of paying a $4.3 million bribe to then-PUCO chair Sam Randazzo in 2019, as the company was seeking a billion dollar nuclear power plant bailout.
In her closing, Jones’ attorney Carole Rendon said FirstEnergy had made payments to Randazzo for years for his legal services. She said Randazzo wasn’t a public official when the $4.3 million payment was authorized in early 2019 so it couldn’t be a bribe. It was a legal settlement for his clients and he stole it, she said.
“The fact that Sam Randazzo stole the money is definitive proof that it was not a bribe. If the money was for him, he didn't have to steal it," Rendon said.
The defense and prosecution have clashed several times in this trial. Rendon said prosecutors have distorted the facts and haven't proved their case. She urged the jury to reject the entire case against her client based on that.
“If you agree that the state has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that that was a bribe, then all of the other counts collapse like a house of cards," Rendon said. "It doesn't matter whether you find that it wasn't a bribe because Sam Randazzo wasn't a public servant, or you find that it wasn't a bribe because Chuck Jones didn't intend to corrupt him. If it wasn't a bribe, he is not guilty. And you simply stop there. You fill out the verdict form 'not guilty'. You go home to your lives, and you send Chuck Jones back to his life."
Dowling's attorney Steve Grimes presented his closing statements yesterday.
But in his rebuttal, assistant Ohio attorney general Matt Meyer said Jones and Dowling weren’t victims of Randazzo’s crimes – they were his accomplices, and they’re throwing all the blame on him.
“Every bad thing, they want to put it on dead man Randazzo's back and send him out in the wilderness so you don't focus on what they did," Meyer said. "Mike Dowling and Chuck Jones were not Sam Randazzo's victims. They were Sam Randazzo's accomplices and the beneficiaries of his corruption. And to avoid the consequences of their actions, they are blaming the dead man. The victims are the people of the state of Ohio."
And Meyer said the evidence in this case is complicated by design, because Jones and Dowling were trying to hide what happened.
“Sophisticated businessmen, powerful corporate executives who know how this game works aren't going to just write a memo line on a check that says 'bribe'," he said. "They're not going to put that in their texts, as careless as they were. They're going to look for an excuse. They're going to look for a cover story. They're going to look for a way to mask it."
Randazzo died by suicide in 2024 after pleading not guilty alongside Jones and Dowling. They also face federal charges after this trial.
Testimony in the trial ended on Thursday after the defense presented three witnesses, including U.S. Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH). Neither Jones nor Dowling took the stand. The prosecution had 26 witnesses over several weeks.
Jones and Dowling also face federal charges in connection with the scandal. Former House speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges were convicted on similar charges in federal court in 2023 in connection with pushing HB 6 through the legislature. Householder, who's in prison on a 20-year sentence, is also facing state charges of misuse of campaign money and ethics violations. FirstEnergy struck a plea deal on federal charges in 2021, paying $230 million in that agreement.
