08132023 - News Article - Former Portage Mayor James Snyder asks US Supreme Court to consider his case

 





Former Portage Mayor James Snyder asks US Supreme Court to consider his case
Chicago Tribune 
Aug 13, 2023
Former Portage Mayor James Snyder filed a petition earlier this month asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider overturning his conviction in federal court over taking $13,000 in regards to a contract for garbage trucks.

At the crux of the argument filed by his attorneys is whether that payment, which according to court documents was received after the garbage trucks were purchased in exchange for consulting services reportedly provided by Snyder to Great Lakes Peterbilt, the company that sold the garbage trucks, was a gratuity.

Snyder has exhausted his options in the federal appellate court system, with a denial last month by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to give his case another hearing. His attorneys argue in their petition that the circuit courts don’t agree on what constitutes a gratuity, and the Supreme Court has the opportunity to clarify the matter by taking up Snyder’s case.

“There is a split in the Circuits with respect to whether or not the bribery statute also includes gratuities at the State and local level. The Seventh Circuit’s position is that the statute covers both. The First and Fifth Circuits have issued opinions to the contrary. We continue to pursue justice for Mr. Snyder,” Andrea Gambino, one of Snyder’s attorneys, said in an email last month.

The federal statute as it now stands, according to the filing, “criminalizes only quid pro quo bribes — corrupt exchanges like paying a governor to veto a bill, or giving a house inspector a luxury watch in exchange for a passing grade.”

The statute doesn’t cover gratuities, “payments for actions already taken or planned,” like a donation to the governor’s campaign after a veto or buying a gift for the inspector after the report is complete.

“Yet the government’s gratuity theory sweeps much farther,” the filing notes, going on to include the examples of a grandmother thanking a governor for supporting military troops on a donation check after a fight to keep a military base open, or a nurses’ union holding a gala for state public health officials who supported vaccine mandates.

“Those acts ‘reward’ public official for past conduct and thus risk ten years in federal prison for both the official and the grateful constituent,” with a risk of “‘chilling effects’ on protected speech.”

Federal prosecutors have said in court testimony and documents that there was no written agreement between Snyder and the Bruha brothers, who owned Great Lakes Peterbilt, to provide consulting services for health care and information technology, nor was there evidence of any work done under the arrangement.

Snyder filed the petition for a writ of certiorari on Aug. 1; attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice have a Sept. 5 response deadline.

Snyder, 45, a Republican, was first elected mayor in 2011 and was reelected in 2015. He was ordered in late June to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons before 2 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 16 to begin serving his sentence. His placement has yet to be determined.

Snyder’s case has moved in fits and starts since he was first indicted in U.S. District Court in Hammond in November 2016 on a charge of corrupt solicitation involving a contract with Great Lakes Peterbilt for garbage trucks; interfering with the IRS, for hiding funds from the federal agency from his mortgage company; and receiving a bribe for a tow truck contract.

A federal jury found Snyder guilty on the charges involving the garbage truck contract and the IRS and acquitted him on the allegations involving the towing contract.

Snyder asked for and received a new trial on the count involving the garbage trucks, and that trial, in March 2021, also resulted in a jury conviction.

Snyder filed another appeal in October 2021 in an attempt to have both of his convictions overturned and the court granted him bond pending that appeal. The appeals court rejected Snyder’s bid to have his convictions dismissed in a June 15 ruling.

On July 14, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago noted that “no judge in active service has requested a vote on the petition” that Snyder filed asking for a rehearing before the full court, and “all the judges on the original panel have voted to deny the petition for panel rehearing.”

The order went on to note that “Circuit Judge Thomas L. Kirsch II did not participate in the consideration of this petition for rehearing en banc.” Early on in Snyder’s case, Kirsch was his defense attorney before being appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District and later being appointed as an appellate judge.

Snyder has a pending federal lawsuit against Lynch and Dan Whitten, the city attorney, alleging they coached Randy Reeder, a witness in the garbage truck case, not to meet with Snyder or his legal team.

Lynch and Whitten have filed to have the case dismissed.

08122023 - News Article - Former Portage mayor asks Supreme Court to hear his appeal

 






Former Portage mayor asks Supreme Court to hear his appeal
NWI Times
Aug 12, 2023 



WASHINGTON, D.C. — Convicted former Portage Mayor James Snyder is asking the Supreme Court to hear his appeal before he is required to begin his prison term this fall. 

In a 36-page petition for a writ of certiorari, which is a request for the Supreme Court to hear a case, Snyder's lawyers challenge the federal statute under which he was convicted that prohibits a public official from accepting a bribe. His attorneys write that the each of the twelve United States federal circuit courts interpret the law differently, and therefore request an assessment from the nation's highest court. 

The petition was filed Aug. 1, according to court records. The Supreme Court is required to respond by Sept. 5.

The petition comes after U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Matthew Kennelly denied a request July 14 for Snyder, 45, to have his case reheard en banc, meaning his case would be heard before all the court's judges. Snyder's attorneys filed the petition on June 29 after he was denied an appeal on June 15. 

Kennelly previously ordered Snyder to surrender himself Oct. 16 to begin serving a 21-month prison term. Federal prosecutors initially requested Snyder turn himself in the week after his appeal was denied, but Kennelly struck down the request. Since the court denied his motion, he will likely still be required to begin his prison sentence in October. 

In the appeal argued before the Seventh Circuit appeals court in January, attorneys said court should vacate Snyder's convictions because of an alleged government intrusion into the attorney-client relationship as it pertains to the seizure of Snyder's personal and professional email accounts as part of the criminal investigation. Judges determined that none of Snyder’s Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights were violated during the course of the investigation into his conduct.

Snyder was first convicted in February 2019. When his attorneys moved for a judgment of acquittal or a new trial, the district court denied the motion for acquittal but granted Snyder a new trial on the bribery charge. He was convicted for a second time in March 2021 for charges of corrupt solicitation and interfering with the Internal Revenue Service. He accepted 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 and dodged the IRS when they tried to collect his unpaid taxes from his mortgage company. 

When reached by phone Saturday evening, Snyder deferred to his attorneys for comment. His attorneys were not immediately available.

08132023 - News Article - Former Portage Mayor James Snyder asks US Supreme Court to consider his case

  Former Portage Mayor James Snyder asks US Supreme Court to consider his case Chicago Tribune  Aug 13, 2023 https://www.chicagotribune.com/...