Jury selection concluded Feb. 16 in the trial of one of two former JEA executives accused of launching an unlawful scheme to profit off of the sale of the public utility.
The jury will hear the case of Ryan Wannemacher, who is being tried in federal court on conspiracy and wire fraud charges. The jury in his case was seated a day after a separate jury was chosen for defendant Aaron Zahn in the trial.
Zahn is JEA’s former CEO, and Wannemacher served as chief financial officer.
Wannemacher appeared in a courtroom in the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse for both days of the jury selection. After the jury for Zahn was selected Feb. 15, Senior U.S. District Judge Brian Davis excused him and his attorneys from appearing during the jury selection process for Wannemacher.
Sixteen-member juries that included four alternates were selected for each defendant. For Wannemacher, the jury comprises 11 women and five men. All four alternate jurors are women.
Prosecutors allege that Zahn and Wannemacher conspired to steal or embezzle money via a “performance unit plan” that would have paid them and other JEA employees millions of dollars in bonuses. The bonuses were contingent on the city-owned utility being sold.
The JEA board halted a sale process in December 2019.
Opening statements originally were scheduled to start in both cases Feb. 20.
However, Davis announced that some jurors in the Zahn trial may not be available because of hardships that will prevent them from serving. He plans to select additional alternate jurors on the morning of Feb. 20.