03282019 - News Article - Defense for convicted ex-Portage mayor objects as judge gives prosecutors more time on question of acquittal or new trial

Defense for convicted ex-Portage mayor objects as judge gives prosecutors more time on question of acquittal or new trial
Chicago Tribune
March 28, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-response-extension-st-0329-story.html

A bid by a convicted former mayor to deny a two-week delay prosecutors sought to respond to a request for a new trial or to throw out two guilty verdicts was turned back by a federal judge Thursday.

James Snyder’s defense attorneys on Wednesday told Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen that he should deny a request to delay a filing deadline, saying it’s another example of prosecutors being “chronically unable to meet the court-ordered deadlines” and leaves the former mayor “in limbo.”

On Thursday, Van Bokkelen gave prosecutors the two-week extension they sought.

Defense attorney Jackie Bennett Jr. said he thinks the pending motions have merit and if they are granted, “Mr. Snyder can walk as a free man without the stigma of an adverse jury verdict or looming conviction hanging over his head.”

“The government’s request to keep Mr. Snyder hanging in limbo for an additional two weeks, not to mention the amount of time it takes us to potentially file a reply, should be denied,” Bennett said, in court documents.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster asked for an additional two weeks on Wednesday to file a response to Snyder’s motion for acquittal and for a new trial. Koster’s filing did not specify a reason for the two-week extension.

In February, a federal jury convicted Snyder of bribery and obstructing the IRS, bringing an end to his 19-day trial. Snyder 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 owning back personal and business taxes.

A jury found Snyder not guilty of allegedly soliciting a bribe to award two firms a city towing contract.

Snyder’s defense attorneys filed a request for a new trial and made a renewed push for a judge to acquit the former mayor of bribery and obstructing the IRS. The defense argued that by not calling two men who paid Snyder $13,000, for what Snyder said was consulting services, after a deal to sell Portage garbage trucks, the jury did not get to hear a full telling of the events, according to court documents.

“The government went to great lengths to provide only circumstantial evidence, even where it had direct evidence available to it,” said defense attorney Jackie Bennett Jr., in court filings. “As a result, the jury was asked to speculate as to Mr. Snyder’s guilt. A guilty verdict could stem only from the jury piling inference on inference.”

Prosecutors say 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, which was then owned by Robert and Steve Buha.

Once those contracts were awarded, Great Lakes Peterbilt paid Snyder $13,000.

Snyder’s defense also questioned the evidence in the obstructing the IRS case.

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.