Former Arkansas Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of wire and tax fraud that accuse him of misspending campaign donations and underreporting his income on federal tax forms.
Hutchinson, 44, resigned from his post in the Legislature last month after a federal grand jury indicted him.
On Tuesday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia S. Harris in Little Rock. She set an Oct. 22 jury trial, though initial trial dates in federal court are frequently postponed.
Prosecutors said it will take a week for the government to present its case.
Hutchinson was allowed to remain free pending trial so long as he does not violate the law in any way, Harris said.
Hutchinson's father, former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, was in the audience for the brief hearing. He said in a statement previously that he believes his son will be "exonerated." Tim Hutchinson served 10 years in Congress: four as a representative and six as a senator.
Hutchinson, 44, is a nephew of Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Hutchinson is the sixth current or former Arkansas lawmaker since last year to face federal charges. Five ex-lawmakers have pleaded guilty to charges or been convicted in public corruption investigations spanning Arkansas and Missouri.
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Hutchinson had been previously linked in court documents, though not by name, to a bribery probe involving a Missouri-based nonprofit health care provider and Arkansas lobbyist Rusty Cranford. Cranford pleaded guilty to paying bribes to Hutchinson, or "Senator A," according to court documents. Last month's charges do not address those accusations.
"The indictment is only one side of the story and there is a lot of exculpatory evidence that was left out of the indictment," attorney Tim Dudley said in a statement Tuesday. "My client deserves his presumption of innocence and we are confident that in time that presumption will be affirmed."
Hutchinson, a lawyer by profession, faces eight felony counts of wire fraud and four counts of filing false tax returns.
The wire-fraud counts, which each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, involve accusations about how Hutchinson handled $9,790 in campaign contributions between 2013 and 2015, according to the indictment. That sum is part of accusations, but not formal charges, that the senator improperly used more than $200,000 in campaign money.
The tax-fraud charges, carrying a maximum penalty of three years in prison, involve accusations that he under-reported on his tax returns the income he received for 2011 through 2014, including fees "purportedly for providing legal or consulting services."
Hutchinson was also accused in the indictment of violating Arkansas campaign-finance laws. The accusations, for which he has not been formally charged, include under-reporting contributions, withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars in cash from his election accounts and spending campaign money on vacations, groceries, tuition and Netflix.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.