10012018 - News Article - Portage mayor 'eager' to keep trial date as government asks to postpone with co-defendant

Portage mayor 'eager' to keep trial date as government asks to postpone with co-defendant
Chicago Tribune
October 01, 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-cortina-trial-st-1002-story.html

Portage Mayor James Snyder is “eager and ready” to go to trial this month, but prosecutors said his trial should be postponed with his co-defendant’s who asked for a continuance, court records show.

Last week, John Cortina, of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, and his lawyer, Kevin Milner, asked for a continuance due to a medical procedure during the time of the trial for one of Milner’s family members.

Snyder and Cortina are scheduled for trial Oct. 9 in Hammond’s federal court. The two were charged in November 2016 with violating a federal bribery statute. Federal prosecutors said the mayor solicited money from Cortina and “Individual A” and gave them a towing contract for Portage.

Snyder also was indicted for allegedly accepting $13,000 in connection with a Portage Board of Works contract and for allegedly obstructing IRS laws, court documents say.

Snyder and Cortina have pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court documents.

Milner suggested that either Cortina have his trial separated from Snyder’s and Snyder still go to trial this month, or to have both of their dates pushed back again.

A telephonic hearing was scheduled for Tuesday in Hammond’s federal court to address the issue.

The government argued that Cortina’s and Snyder’s cases should remain together and “the joint trial be held at a later date,” court records show.

“The bribery charges against Cortina and Snyder will be proved by substantially the same evidence and with the same witnesses,” prosecutors said in a response filed in court records. “The interests of convenience, economy and efficient administration of justice dictate that Snyder and Cortina, joined in same indictment, be tried together.”

Before Cortina’s current request for a continuance, “no severance was requested by either party,” the government said.

Prosecutors also said that “in the last 14 days, counsel for Snyder has tendered over 6,000 pages of discovery and filed numerous motions.” While some of those were “standard trial motions associated with normal pretrial filings,” many of the motions were “more complex,” the response states. The government asked to have until Oct. 4 to file its responses.

“Snyder vehemently objects to a request to continue his trial, pending now for nearly two years, beyond the October date currently set,” Jackie Bennett Jr., Snyder’s attorney, wrote in a response. “This case has been pending for too long already.”

The four-count indictment alleges three counts against Snyder and one count against Cortina, so “it makes sense to sever the trial so that Cortina and Mr. Milner do not need to sit through a trial that is 75 percent not even about them,” the response states.

“Changing the date now would cause Snyder and his counsel to suffer massive prejudice,” Bennett said.

The defense said the government should be able to respond to pending motions as prosecutors prepare for trial.

“(The government) affirmatively wants to delay Snyder’s trial because — more than five years after its all-encompassing investigation began, and two years after it filed the indictment — the government still is not ready to go to trial,” the response states.

Bennett said, “Enough is enough. Snyder’s trial should proceed.”

“The best solution — frankly, the only solution — is to sever Cortina’s trial from Snyder’s so that (1) Snyder can get this case over with an (2) so that Mr. Milner can be with his child. No other solution accomplishes both; no other solution should be considered,” Bennett said.