09042019 - News Article - Convicted of bribery, obstruction, former Portage mayor asks to delay sentencing

Convicted of bribery, obstruction, former Portage mayor asks to delay sentencing
Chicago Tribune
September 04, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-snyder-sentencing-delay-st-0905-20190904-zen5mk7sz5bf5guhf7nwhqrtbi-story.html

A former Portage mayor is making another request to delay sentencing after a jury convicted him in February of bribery and obstructing the IRS.

James E. Snyder’s sentencing date was originally set for May 24, but was set back four months, to Sept. 24, to give Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen of the U.S. District Court in Hammond time to review motions made by the defense after he was convicted.

The same logic is being applied again, according to court documents from Indianapolis-based defense attorney, Jackie Bennett.

“The routine procedure...is to allow time to resolve post-trial motions" before going through with sentencing, the document states.

Prosecuting attorney Jill Koster, an assistant U.S. attorney in Hammond, seemed to agree, acknowledging “the Defendant (Snyder) cannot be sentenced until the pending post-trial motions are ruled upon,” according to a Wednesday release. It is ultimately up to the court, however, to fulfill Snyder’s request.

The post-trial motions in question are various attempts on behalf of Snyder’s lawyers to get a new trial or an acquittal of his convictions. The defense has argued that evidence presented in court was “circumstantial,” and that such evidence only infers but does not prove Snyder’s guilt.

Snyder’s attorneys have also argued that the convictions should be thrown out because two men who could have given a fuller telling of events did not testify.

Prosecutors say that when Snyder, 38, ran for mayor in 2011, he told residents he planned to automate Portage’s trash pickup, but wound up steering contracts for $712,882.50 and another for $425,355 to Great Lakes Peterbilt, which was then owned by Robert and Steve Buha.

In his 19-day February trial, Snyder was convicted of taking a $13,000 bribe in exchange for contracts to sell five garbage trucks to the city. Defense attorneys said the money was payment for Snyder’s consulting services to Great Lakes Peterbilt regarding heath care and information technology. But testimony from witnesses said the consulting was about phones, payroll or tax attorneys.

Along with the timing of the payment and the absence of any contract for it, the different explanations for such “consulting” indicated Snyder’s guilt, according to one juror who was interviewed after the case ended.

Snyder was also convicted on a charge of obstructing the IRS, after he used a shell company called SRC to hide income and assets from the IRS at the same time as he owed personal and business back taxes.

Taken together, the convictions could put Snyder in prison for up to 13 years, a number that might have been larger if Snyder were not acquitted of the third charge against him in February.

That charge related to bribery in a towing scheme, alleging Snyder took $12,000 to get a company on Portage’s tow list. A man indicted alongside Snyder, John Cortina, 79, pleaded guilty to paying bribes to Snyder in that instance, but jurors agreed with defense attorneys’ arguments that Snyder considered the money to be a loan.

Cortina is expected to be sentenced in October.