07122021 - News Article - Sentencing delayed again in former Portage Mayor Snyder's federal bribery case

 

Sentencing delayed again in former Portage Mayor Snyder's federal bribery case

Jul 12, 2021

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/sentencing-delayed-again-in-former-portage-mayor-snyders-federal-bribery-case/article_b6430020-ab0d-5daa-84eb-23cbdd143f61.html

HAMMOND — Sentencing has been delayed again for former Portage Mayor James Snyder, who was found guilty a second time in March on a federal bribery charge.

The July 16 sentencing was postponed until Aug. 25 because U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois, who was brought in to oversee the local case, is unavailable due to jury trials, according to court records.

The same reason was given for the first delay in sentencing from July 1.

Just a week ago, Kennelly granted Snyder's legal team a one-week delay to respond to a request for an enhanced sentence based on claims by the government that Snyder obstructed justice by asking a witness to recant his statements, court records show.

That filing deadline is Thursday and Kennelly said that date was unaffected by the most recent delay in sentencing.

The defense had said last week it had no intention of seeking a delay in the July 16 sentencing and did not believe the filing extension would impact any other case deadlines.

At issue is the government's claim that Snyder encouraged then-Assistant Portage Superintendent of Streets and Sanitation Randy Reeder to retract certain statements "regarded as unhelpful to the defendant," the defense said. The defense said it believes the claim is "unsupported in the record."

Reeder, who was granted prosecutorial immunity during Snyder's second bribery trial in March, told jurors Snyder had asked him to retract the unhelpful testimony. He referred to Snyder as his friend and then-boss.

"A proper response will require the review of voluminous transcripts of prior testimony by Mr. Reeder," Snyder's legal defense argued.

Federal prosecutors said recently they are seeking to impose a lengthy sentence on Snyder for bribery and tax evasion.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster has calculated the proposed sentence at between 46 to 57 months.

Koster argues that justice demands Snyder’s imprisonment to deter other elected officials from public corruption.

She said the government has twice proved Snyder, 43, a Republican, solicited and accepted a $13,000 bribe in 2014 in return for steering a $1.125 million garbage collection contract to the local Great Lakes Peterbilt company.

She said Snyder also obstructed the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to collect unpaid taxes on a private mortgage company he ran.

He was indicted in late 2016 and was first found guilty in early 2019 of the bribery charge and federal tax violations. He is awaiting sentencing on the tax violations, but the bribery verdict was overturned later in 2019 and the March retrial was held.

07122021 - News Article - Former Portage mayor seeking to avoid prison in federal bribery, tax violation case

 

Former Portage mayor seeking to avoid prison in federal bribery, tax violation case

NWI Times

Jul 12, 2021

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/former-portage-mayor-seeking-to-avoid-prison-in-federal-bribery-tax-violation-case/article_ae3a1c56-8c4e-5ee6-9482-397d4679061a.html

HAMMOND — Former Portage Mayor James Snyder has asked a federal judge to spare him from prison when he is sentenced next month on bribery and tax violation charges.

"A sentence of imprisonment is unnecessary to further the objectives of either general or specific deterrence," the defense wrote in a newly-filed sentencing memorandum.

"Any reasonable person in the region viewing this case would understand the costs imposed on Mr. Snyder and his family, quite apart from any prison term," the defense wrote. "No observer of this case could take away any message other than that similar conduct risks devastating, fundamentally life-changing results."

Prosecutors are seeking a lengthy prison sentence for Snyder, saying it should fall within the federal sentencing guidelines of between 46 to 57 months.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster argued in a memorandum to the court last month that justice demands Snyder’s imprisonment to deter other elected officials from public corruption.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois, who was brought in to oversee the local case, delayed sentencing this week from July 16 to Aug. 25.

The judge said he is unavailable this month due to jury trials, according to court records.

The defense memorandum goes into detail about the 43-year-old Snyder's past, describing him as hardworking since childhood and a provider to his early and later family members.

"Apart from the allegations in this case, James Snyder has no criminal history," the defense says.

The defense attempts to downplay Snyder's tax violation conviction by saying his mortgage loan origination business fell victim to the economic recession of 2008.

"Rather than simply firing his employees and declaring the business bankrupt, Mr. Snyder attempted to keep the business running in the hope that the economy would turn around and that he’d be able to pay the taxes owed," the defense argues.

Snyder, a Republican, went on to strike an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to pay his overdue tax bill, but was indicted on charges of "endeavoring to obstruct the collection of those same taxes," his legal team said.

Prosecutors argued during this second bribery trial in March that, "Mr. Snyder was so desperate to repay those same taxes that he engaged in felony corruption to do so."

Snyder was twice found guilty of soliciting and accepting a $13,000 bribe in 2014 in return for steering a $1.125 million garbage collection contract for the city of Portage to the local Great Lakes Peterbilt company.

"Apart from his very high-level involvement, Mayor Snyder had nothing to do with the eventual specifications, nor did he play any role in influencing who the lowest qualified bidder would be," his legal team argues.

"Mr. Snyder is devoutly religious and family oriented," the defense said. "In addition to payment of taxes on the $13,000 sum the government claims is a bribe, upon receipt of the check from the Buhas (then-owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt) he immediately tithed a portion of those proceeds to his church."

The defense argues Snyder should be acquitted of that charge or at least given a new and third trial.

It also challenges the government's claims that Snyder "betrayed the public's trust" as mayor by committing these offenses.

"There is no claim that Mr. Snyder took for his own benefit funds entrusted to the government by taxpayers," the defense says. "Nor did Mr. Snyder corrupt or distort governmental processes by doling out favors based on which company gave him political donations or money."

"The prosecution has provided no explanation for why Mr. Snyder’s case should be lumped in with news articles reciting the longest sentences it could find issued in public corruption cases," the defense memorandum says.

The defense further opposes the claim by prosecutors that Snyder obstructed justice by asking a witness to recant his statements, saying there is no perjury as long as the testimony is true.

"The prosecution has never even claimed, much less attempted to prove, that Mr. Snyder asked any witness to testify falsely," the defense argues.

A sentence that does not involve prison time is appropriate, according to the defense.

"Mr. Snyder and his family have lived for the better part of a decade under the regional glare of this prosecution," his legal team said.

Snyder said he was removed from office and has been unable to find more than part-time work to support his family over the past two years.

"The defense disagrees with the characterization of Mr. Snyder having 'enjoyed the fruits' of his conduct," the memorandum reads. "On the contrary, Mr. Snyder and his family have lived under the stress of a federal investigation and indictment for more than seven years now (several years for which he has been largely unemployable and unable to support his family)."