Two words, read five times each, made May 2 a day that Jason May will remember for the rest of his life.

Following deliberations that lasted less than an hour, a jury found Jason May not guilty on five felony counts of filing a false/forged instrument. The day began with May taking the stand on his own behalf and ending with hugs and some tears among family and friends.

“It has been incredibly stressful,” May said. “From the moment I found out I was being indicted, it has been a nightmare, not knowing. I am scheduled to start a jury trial Monday and if this verdict had not gone this way, I would not have a law license on Monday.

“So, it has been very stressful. It is my livelihood, my career, everything. My reputation, it has all been at stake here.”

The trial lasted a week starting with jury selection that took up all of one day. The case stemmed from a civil seizure and forfeiture in which May represented a man named Jorge Flores. Flores was pulled over at a traffic stop in 2019. That day in February kicked off a saga that spanned over six years in which May’s attorney Matt Swain said that he had been duped. May, who has been an attorney in Ardmore since 2009, said it was a pretty easy decision to take the stand on his own behalf in the trial.

“I would say that it is less common for my clients to testify than to not testify but in this case, it was a pretty easy decision,” May said. “I knew I didn’t have anything to hide,” he said. “They didn’t have any prior criminal history or negative character to impeach me with. I really just felt the jury deserved to hear my story and I didn’t want them in the jury room wondering why I didn’t tell them my story.”

Following direct examination Friday morning, Judge Trisha Smith called for a recess during which May visited with his team of attorneys. His wife Heather Whitsell also came to the stand where they shared a private moment.

“She was just basically reminding me to breathe and to just be honest,” he said. “I will say this has been as stressful for my family as it has been for me. I do appreciate that I have had such a supportive family.”

Matt Swain, an attorney based out of Norman, defended May along with Dan Pond and Austin Browning. He said there was no way that he was going to keep May off the stand. As an attorney, Swain said there are a few things defendants get to decide when it comes to a trial. The attorney decides the type of defense and which witnesses to call. But it is left up to the defendant to decide if the case goes to trial and if they want to testify.

“It is about 50/50 whether the defendant testifies or not,” Swain said. “I have known Jason since 2006. We were in law school together. There was no way I was going to keep Jason off the stand. He wanted to tell these jurors and all the people that were here watching what he has had on his mind and had in his heart for the last few years he has been going through this. Jason was going to take the stand whether I wanted to or not.”

Swain said the jury needed to hear from May. While there are cases in which it is not necessary to call the defendant, Swain said when dealing with fraud, intent and decisions based on information the accused has in their head and nowhere else, the jury wants to hear from them.

“It is easy to testify and come across genuine when you are telling the truth,” he said. “For Jason, it was easy to tell the truth about everything that he has experienced over the last few years. And so, I think the jury felt that and they could see that, unlike some of the witnesses, it was easy for him to give answers that made sense.

“There were some of the witnesses that had a jury instruction with inconsistent statements. There was a reason that Jason’s name was not in that jury instruction. Because there was nothing that he said that was inconsistent with anything that he had said before.”

Pond delivered the closing argument, reminding the jury of the inconsistencies. He also reminded the jury of a 30th bundle of money that had been found a couple of years after 29 other bundles had been seized from a secret compartment during the execution of a search warrant. The missing bundles had been reported in an interrogatory in 2019, which were questioned answered in a letter sent to Flores. Flores had left town after bailing out the day after the traffic stop and has not been seen since.

May said he had communications with Flores through a stepdaughter Alisha Flores. Pond argued that the discovery of that 30th bundle proved that May had been representing Flores.

“This one took quite a toll just because, this is one that you can recognize, this could be me,” he said. “Tomorrow I may mistakenly file something and be facing the same thing. You can always see yourself in some cases, but this one is a lot more personal.”

Pond said he felt it was a corrupt decision and to see it hurt, knowing it can be brought against the legal community.

“The people that do this job really do love it,” he said. “So, putting passion into it, then hurts, when you get punished for that passion.”

In talking about the jury’s decision, Swain also said he felt there had been missteps in the investigation from the start. In the end, he felt that it had an impact on the jury.

“I think there were a lot of missteps from Day One when it came to this investigation,” Swain said. “It should have been handled by the OSBI from the beginning, and I think the jury had a lot of questions about whether the authorities that were handling the forfeiture and were going to be benefitting from the forfeiture, should have been involved in this case and in this investigation from the beginning against Mr. May.

“I think a lot of it came down to it not appearing to be an impartial investigation. And then certainly some of the witnesses not testifying consistently with that they have said in the past sure didn’t help as well.”

Leading up the trial, May received support both on social media and in the public with signs and a billboard. Attendance was also much stronger than for a typical trial. May described it as amazing.

“I got rid of my Facebook account a couple of months ago just because I didn’t want any jurors seeing it and being influence by it,” he said. “People have been sending me screenshots and I saw the billboard that one of my friends put up.

“It has been overwhelming to see how much support I have received from the community. I never imagined I would receive so much love.”

As for the future, May intends to continue to focus on his practice but said he expects to run for public office at some point, mentioning District Attorney and State Representative although he did not anticipate anything soon since he is only 41.

“I have always wanted to be a judge,” he said. “I kind of view that as a retirement gig, but I think I am a little too young to retire.”