09302019 - News Article - Former Portage mayor who was convicted of bribery challenges immunity of two witnesses in trial

Former Portage mayor who was convicted of bribery challenges immunity of two witnesses in trial
Chicago Tribune
September 30, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-snyder-clarification-motion-st-1001-20190930-ykuukl4heretfcte2wlop7dctq-story.html

The legal team for former Portage Mayor James Snyder, who was found guilty of bribery and obstructing the IRS, filed a motion Friday for clarification on the immunity status of two witnesses in his case.

In the motion, Snyder’s attorney, Jackie Bennett Jr., requests a clarification “regarding the status of the immunity” of the former owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt, Robert and Steve Buha, “in determining which witnesses to arrange for the upcoming Dec. 6, 2019, sentencing hearing.”

According to the motion, the Buhas “never had immunity to testify at trial, and only would have had immunity if the prosecutors had requested that their immunity be renewed.”

The brothers were granted immunity for their grand jury testimony.

“Since the Buhas received formal immunity, the immunity would have continued unless government counsel revoked it. It simply cannot simultaneously be true that they did not have immunity, but also that the prosecutor did not revoke their immunity,” Bennett wrote in the motion.

The motion seeks clarification regarding the discrepancies between the prosecutor’s in-court description of the mechanics of formal immunity and the Department of Justice policy, “which says the opposite," and between the in-trial statements of prosecutors that the Buhas did not have immunity.

A request was made for an order from the court ruling “that if the government does not reinstate the Buhas’ immunity, that the government cannot also seek enhancements to Mr. Snyder’s sentence on issues the Buhas could elucidate, since the government would also be depriving Mr. Snyder of witnesses useful if not necessary to rebutting those proposed enhancements," according to the motion.

Bennett could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

In February, Snyder, 41, was convicted of taking a $13,000 bribe in exchange for contracts to sell five garbage trucks to the city, and using a shell company to hide income and assets from the IRS while owing back personal and business taxes. The jury acquitted Snyder of a third count that alleged he took a $12,000 bribe to get a company on Portage’s tow list.

Snyder has agreed to forfeit $13,000 to the federal governments, documents said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, which oversaw the prosecution, said that Snyder could face up to 10 years in prison on the bribery charge, and up to three years in prison on the obstruction charge.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana was recused from the case, absent two prosecutors, as U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch II previously represented Snyder.

Snyder, a Republican, was indicted in November 2016 and charged with allegedly violating a federal bribery statute and obstruction or impeding the IRS.

Prosecutors said that when Snyder 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.

Defense attorneys say that Snyder used his experience in offering health insurance to city employees through the Affordable Care Act, and making technology upgrades to advice Great Lakes Peterbilt about making similar changes.

A second count said that Snyder, while owing tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS, funneled income through a shell company, and failed to disclose any of those assets to the IRS.

In September, Snyder’s sentencing date had been pushed back a second time from Sept. 24 to two days in December “to allow time to rule on the pending post-trial motions,” according to court records.

On Dec. 6, the court will give the parties an opportunity to present evidence and any additional arguments regarding their objections to the pre-sentence report and sentencing factors, according to a court order.

On Dec. 17, the court will issue a ruling regarding the objections to the pre-sentence report and will announce Snyder’s sentence, according to the court order.


Following Snyder’s sentencing delay, John Cortina, who was indicted alongside the mayor, requested his sentencing be reset to Jan. 10.

Federal prosecutors said Snyder allegedly solicited money from Cortina, of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, and “Individual A” and gave them a towing contract for Portage.

Cortina, 80, in January pleaded guilty to a charge that he paid bribes to Snyder to get a spot on the tow list. Cortina did not testify during the trial, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself, according to court documents.

Snyder has maintained his innocence during the more than two years since he was indicted.