Former Portage Mayor Snyder hoping to avoid prison while appealing federal convictions
NWI Times
Dec 20, 2021
HAMMOND — Former Portage Mayor James Snyder is seeking to remain out on bond rather than go to prison as scheduled Jan. 5 while he appeals his federal bribery and tax violations convictions.
The 43-year-old Republican claims in his motion that there has been an "avalanche of error" that is likely to reverse his convictions or at least result in a third trial.
"Courts have also considered the fact that a sentence of 21 months is short enough that it may be wholly or substantially served by the time the appeal is briefed, argued and decided, causing the defendant-appellant to serve time for which he may not be compensated if his appeal results in a judgment of acquittal or new trial," the motion reads.
A telephonic hearing on the 47-page motion is scheduled for the morning of Dec. 22.
Snyder was twice found guilty of soliciting and accepting a $13,000 bribe in 2014 in return for steering a $1.125 million contract for the purchase of garbage trucks for the city of Portage to the local Great Lakes Peterbilt company.
Federal prosecutors say he also obstructed the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to collect unpaid taxes on a private mortgage company he ran.
Snyder was sentenced Oct. 13 to 21 months behind bars and one year supervised release, which was well below the recommended sentencing guideline of 46 to 57 months.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly gave Snyder until Jan. 5 to surrender himself to begin his prison term.
Snyder, by way of his defense attorney Andréa E. Gambino, has filed a notice of appeal, records show.
In his latest motion, Snyder argues he has been on pretrial release since his case was filed in 2016 and he is appealing, not for the purpose of delay, "but to vindicate his innocence." He said he is not a flight risk and poses no danger to the community.
Snyder says the appellate court may find the judge abused his discretion during the first trial by failing to grant a motion for acquittal.
He argues, in part, that prosecutors left "several substantial evidentiary 'holes' in their case, leaving the jury to speculate in order to reach the government's desired conclusions."
This includes not calling Steven and Robert Buha, then-owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt, who had personal knowledge about the purpose of the $13,000 check in question, the motion says.
"This choice was purposeful and misleading," Snyder claims.
Prosecutors also failed to call Portage Superintendent of Streets and Sanitation Randy Reeder or anyone else involved in preparing the bid specifications in question, the motion says.
Snyder was first found guilty on the bribery count in early 2019, along with federal tax violations. The bribery verdict was overturned later that year and a former judge in the case ordered the retrial.
Snyder further claims the judge during the first trial erred in allowing prosecutors to use information from emails protected by attorney-client privilege.
"More than 40 e-mails that should have been identified as attorney-client privileged materials and attorney work product were turned over to and made use of by government counsel, both before the Grand Jury and during trial," the motion reads.
The appellate court may also find Snyder's attorney-client privilege and right to prepare his defense were violated by prosecutors, who had Steve Charnetzky, a former Portage streets superintendent, record a meeting between Reeder and then-city attorney Gregory Sobkowski on the topic of how to respond to a government subpoena for city documents.
The court further erred in allowing the second trial in the case and then allowing prosecutors from that first trial to remain on for the second, Snyder claims.
