The corruption conviction of former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam were thrown out by an appeals court Tuesday, paving the way for a retrial. It is the second time in three months that an appellate court dealt a major setback to federal prosecutors who say they are trying to clean up Albany. State House Reporter Zack Fink filed the following report.
Following its own lead, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out the corruption conviction of Skelos, just months after overturning the conviction of former State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Just like in the Silver case, the U.S. Attorney's Office has vowed to retry Skelos and his son Adam.
"We look forward to a retrial, and again presenting that evidence to a jury of New Yorkers, and giving the public what we think they deserve in that case, the justice that they deserve" Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim said.
Skelos was convicted in 2015 of arranging a no-show job for his son Adam in exchange for political favors.
But this past June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a separate case against the former governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, that a key statute used in the prosecution was too vague.
Once that definition was narrowed, the Second Circuit found that the jury charge was misleading.
The Second Circuit ruled, "Because we cannot conclude that the charging error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, we are obliged to vacate the convictions."
The Second Circuit ruling cited the U.S. Supreme Court in the McDonnell case, finding that official acts raise significant constitutional concerns because virtually anything a public official does for constituents can be construed as an official act.
The court left the door open, however, for a retrial on the same evidence.
"I think it is entirely possible that they will present the same theories as before but only argue that the truly official acts, such as those relating to legislation, are the ones that the corruption charges are based on," defense attorney Joshua Colangelo-Bryan said.
The cases against Skelos and Silver were led by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
As with Sheldon Silver, SDNY will retry Dean and Adam Skelos. SCOTUS made it harder to punish corruption, but justice should prevail here. https://t.co/MxstvJLTdJ
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) September 26, 2017
Some elected officials have said privately that they believe Bharara overreached.
"I'm not a legal expert, honestly, Zack," current State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said to me. "I'm sure that the U.S. Attorney's office is going to respond, and again like I said, it's just another step in the judicial process we have in this country."
Silver is likely to be retried next spring.
In a statement, Skelos's attorneys said, "Senator Skelos is grateful for the Court's careful consideration of the issues and looks forward to the next steps. We believe that as events unfold it is going to become clear that this is a case that never should have been brought."