Convicted ex-Boilermaker leader’s law firm withdraws as counsel prior to sentencing
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Spencer Fane withdrew after Jones’s legal bill became seriously past due.
- Jones’s sentencing is set for Sept. 1, 2025.
- The government said new counsel must order transcripts and review exhibits and discovery.
Ex-Boilermakers president Newton Jones, awaiting sentencing after being convicted last month of racketeering conspiracy for stealing millions from his Kansas City-based union, now is without legal representation.
With Jones’ sentencing set for Sept. 1, a federal judge this week granted his law firm’s request to withdraw as his counsel. The firm, Spencer Fane LLP, said Jones’ account was “seriously past due” and that since March, he had ignored repeated requests for payment.
Jones, who still draws a hefty union pension, told the court at a closed hearing last week that he didn’t have the money to pay his legal fees. He said he had two homes he could sell but was having trouble retaining a real estate agent. And he said that if he qualified financially, he would request a court-appointed attorney to represent him.
Spencer Fane’s motion, filed June 26 in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, said the firm began representing Jones in late August 2024 and served as his counsel through the trial, which ended June 5.
Jones “has breached and continues to breach the engagement agreement” between him and Spencer Fane, the motion said.
Pat McInerney, one of Jones’ four attorneys, declined to comment on Thursday.
The government strongly opposed the law firm’s motion, saying it would significantly delay the conclusion of the case and result in a “miscarriage of justice.”
Court holds closed hearing
Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ordered Jones to appear at a July 9 hearing on the motion. The hearing was closed to the public.
“At the hearing, Mr. Jones confirmed that he hasn’t paid his attorneys’ final invoice,” Crabtree wrote in the order he signed Wednesday. “He also announced that he didn’t oppose its request to withdraw.”
Crabtree said in his order that the court shared the government’s concerns about delaying the proceedings.
“It doesn’t plan for this case to idle because of a collateral fee dispute,” Crabtree wrote. “At the same time, the court’s not inclined to require Spencer Fane to continue to work without pay, indefinitely.”
In balancing the concerns, Crabtree said, the court was granting Spencer Fane’s motion with one condition. The firm must still prepare and file a reply brief in support of Jones’ pending supplemental motion for acquittal in his case.
Crabtree wrote in his order that Jones said at last week’s hearing that he’d already paid part of his substantial legal bills, but that Spencer Fane told him last September that the representation would require another substantial amount.
During the five-week trial, the firm submitted an invoice to Jones that was more than the amount anticipated from the conversation in September, Crabtree wrote. That invoice, he said, remains unpaid.
“At the hearing, Mr. Jones explained that he doesn’t have the funds to pay Spencer Fane,” Crabtree wrote. “And he repeatedly referenced ‘misunderstandings’ that ‘happened both ways,’ presumably referencing the fees at issue.
“He reported that he receives a considerable monthly pension,” Crabtree said. “And he owns two homes and a car that he could sell. But, he explained, he’s encountered difficulty retaining a real estate agent willing to help him sell his properties. He also reported he would sell his car, but he needs it to come to court.”
Crabtree said Jones “deliberately has disregarded his financial obligations to Spencer Fane.”
And the judge wasn’t buying Jones’ explanation about needing a car to travel to court appearances, saying it “smacks of pretext.”
“Could Mr. Jones not employ an alternative mode of transportation?” he wrote. “Perhaps he could rent a car when needed for travel to court. Rideshare services abound and both Raleigh and Kansas City have readily accessible airports.”
‘That’s deliberate disregard’
Jones had months to come up with some funds after being notified that he’d exhausted his retainer, Crabtree said, and has assets he could have liquidated.
“He simply didn’t do so,” the judge wrote. “That’s deliberate disregard.”
At last week’s hearing, Crabtree ordered Jones to let him know by mail how he planned to proceed.
“On July 14, Mr. Jones informed the court that he has tried to engage new retained counsel, but hasn’t succeeded so far,” Crabtree wrote. “He indicated that he intends to request a court-appointed attorney, if he qualifies financially. And he reported that he will attempt to liquidate what he has left to augment his representation.”
Jones told the judge that if he can’t secure an attorney and doesn’t qualify for a court-appointed one, he will represent himself at his sentencing.
If he decides to do that, Crabtree said, the court must hold a hearing to determine that he makes the decision “voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently.”
“That is, the court must ensure that Mr. Jones is ‘aware of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation’ and ‘knows what he is doing’ such that ‘his choice is made with eyes open,’” he wrote.
Convicted after monthlong trial
A jury on June 5 convicted Jones, his wife and a retired union executive of racketeering conspiracy, embezzlement and other felonies, concluding a monthlong trial over the alleged theft of millions from their own union.
Jones, 73, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who led the union from 2003 until his ouster in 2023, and William Creeden, 78, of Kearney, the union’s former international secretary-treasurer, were both found guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy. They were also convicted of 23 counts of embezzlement from a labor organization, three counts of theft in connection with health care, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of theft from an employee retirement plan.
Jones’ wife, Kateryna Jones, 33, also of Chapel Hill — whose title was special assistant to the president — was convicted of one count of racketeering conspiracy, seven counts of embezzlement from a labor organization, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of theft in connection with health care.
Lawrence McManamon, 78, of Rocky River, Ohio, a former international vice president, was found guilty of three counts of embezzlement from a labor organization.
In a July 8 motion, the government argued that allowing Spencer Fane to withdraw as Jones’ counsel “would prejudice the Court and the government, because defendant’s lawyers all engaged in pretrial preparation, participated in the trial, and have all participated in post-trial briefing and a withdraw at this stage would significantly delay the conclusion of this litigation.”
“Substantial delay would occur while the defendant seeks to retain new counsel,” the government argued. “That is, if the defendant can obtain new counsel. Presumably, any new counsel would request a retainer to represent the defendant.”
The case, the government said, involves complex legal issues, covers two decades of conduct, and involves dozens of witnesses and hundreds of thousands of documents.
The sentencing date is less than two months away, the government noted.
“If the defendant is successful at retaining new counsel,” it said, “new counsel would have to order trial transcripts, review the transcripts and review hundreds of exhibits that were entered into evidence, and review the voluminous discovery in this case before they would, presumably, be ready to proceed to sentencing.”
