Former Portage mayor denied appeal on bribery and tax obstruction charges
Times, The (Munster, IN)
June 15, 2023
CHICAGO — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has denied former Portage Mayor James Snyder's appeal of his 2021 convictions of bribery and tax violations.
In a 42-page document filed Thursday, Judges David F. Hamilton, Candance Jackson-Akiwumi and John Z. Lee determined that none of Snyder's Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights were violated during the course of the investigation into his conduct, despite arguments made by his attorneys.
Snyder, 45, was 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. Additionally, federal prosecutors said he obstructed the Internal Revenue Service's efforts to collect unpaid taxes on a private mortgage company he ran.
He was tried and found guilty in February 2019. When Snyder's attorney's 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.
In an appeal argued before the court in January, Snyder's defense team said his rights were violated when the government seized email communications between him and his attorney as part of the discovery of evidence in the case. The government maintained the integrity of its investigation through a filtering process in which federal agents determine which emails are considered "privileged" communications that should not be disclosed to the prosecution.
"The emails had been seized and the filter process completed before Snyder was indicted in November 2016, and only at that time did his Sixth Amendment right to counsel attach," the court wrote. The court also concluded that seizure of Snyder's emails under the warrant did not violate the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment.
His team argued that his conviction was not supported by sufficient evidence, which the judges did not find to be legitimate.
"The evidence here was sufficient to support the jury's verdict," the judges said. "Evidence at trial established that Snyder owed personal and payroll taxes and that the IRS had taken 'specific, targeted' steps to collect by levying Snyder's personal and business bank accounts."
Snyder's legal team took additional action in March, suing the city of Portage, Democratic Mayor Sue Lynch and city attorney Dan Whitten. In the federal lawsuit, Snyder accuses the two of instructing city employees, including case witness Randall Reeder Jr., to not meet with Snyder and his legal team as they prepared for his second trial. Attorneys for the city, Lynch and Whitten filed a motion in May to dismiss. Snyder's legal team has five days to respond to the motion, according to federal court records.
While Snyder was permitted to remain out of prison during the appeal, a 21-month sentence looms.
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