04102018 - News Article - UPDATE: Portage mayor files motion to dismiss public corruption probe due to handling of emails

UPDATE: Portage mayor files motion to dismiss public corruption probe due to handling of emails
Apr 10, 2018 - Updated 6:45PM
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/update-portage-mayor-files-motion-to-dismiss-public-corruption-probe/article_369bded0-efe7-5927-b5a1-e61c6e9d0f77.html

HAMMOND — In the most recent brief filed in the public corruption case of Portage Mayor James Snyder, Snyder is claiming the violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial is worse than he initially believed.

Snyder, who asked the present prosecution team be dismissed because they had viewed what should have been attorney-client privileged emails, is now asking the court to dismiss his three-count indictment entirely.

According to the motion filed Monday, Snyder knew only that roughly three dozen emails sent between him and his former attorney, Thomas Kirsch II — including several in which they discussed sensitive aspects of their legal defense strategy — came into the possession of the trial team.

According to the motion, more recent court-compelled discovery disclosures have confirmed Snyder’s suspicion that "the government’s left hand had no idea what its right hand was doing."

Snyder, who was indicted in November 2016, is pleading not guilty to bribery charges related to city towing vendor and public works contracts, and tax evasion charges related to his private business. His trial is set for June 4.

The 25-page brief filed in U.S. District Court by Snyder's Indianapolis-based attorney Jackie M. Bennett Jr. alleges four emails that earlier had been determined to be privileged also appeared in a group that were not considered privileged.

"... the government's taint team had designated as privileged certain Snyder emails that inexplicably were then passed, or otherwise made their way, to the government's trial team," and were used as evidence for over two years, according to the brief.

In another example cited by Bennett, other emails, which the defense believed had been determined as privileged, were used during grand jury testimony in an attempt to impeach a witness, one of Snyder's former employees in his private mortgage company.

In addition, the newest brief argues some emails that included other city employees are privileged, despite the prosecution's claim a third party recipient disqualifies the emails for that designation. Bennett argues the city employees included in those emails had played an "integral role" in developing the bidding procedure for the purchase of garbage trucks, which is at the center of one of the indictments.

The brief now contends there are at least 35 emails in question that are client-attorney work product and should have been quarantined and not viewed by the federal prosecution team.

The filing also goes on to allege the entire process the government team used to filter out potentially privileged emails was "either a failure by the government to endeavor in good faith to analyze whether certain communications were constitutionally protected, or a negligent or incompetent failure to have done so."

Bennett also claims Snyder's Fourth Amendment rights were violated in the seizure of his multiple email accounts.

At a hearing in March, a federal judge said he needed more information to decide whether government investigators mishandled email evidence seized from Snyder.

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen said then he did not see obvious indications the government took an impermissible look into Snyder's defense strategies. Prosecutors filed their briefs on the matter March 26 with Snyder's response being filed Monday.