09212018 - News Article - Indicted Portage mayor says feds' use of confidential source ‘tantamount to cheating’

Indicted Portage mayor says feds' use of confidential source ‘tantamount to cheating’
Chicago Tribune
September 21, 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-pre-trial-motions-st-0922-story.html



Attorneys for indicted Portage Mayor James Snyder say federal investigators used a confidential source for the purpose of “invading the defense camp.”

In a brief filed Friday, Jackie Bennett Jr., one of Snyder’s defense attorneys, said that investigators got information from a confidential source who reportedly knew about discussions between the Portage mayor and his attorneys, showing that the defense wouldn’t be ready for a January 2017 trial. Bennett said federal investigators used that information to continue their investigation, and want a judge to limit their ability to use any information they obtained after January 2017.

“The government, post indictment, permitted an informant to inquire as to Snyder’s legal strategy and legal advice, there by invading the defense camp,” Bennett said. “Thereafter the government made use of the improperly obtained strategic information.”

“To be blunt, this is tantamount to cheating,” Bennett added.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has not filed a response to Snyder’s motion and does not comment on pending cases.

Snyder and John Cortina, of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, were charged in November 2016 with allegedly violating a federal bribery statue. Federal prosecutors said the mayor allegedly solicited money from Cortina and “Individual A” and gave them a towing contract for Portage.

Snyder received an additional bribery indictment for alleged accepting $13,000 in connection with a Portage Board of Works contract, and allegedly obstructing Internal Revenue Service laws.

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

The trial is set to start Oct. 9.

The motion included a confidential human source report from the FBI where the person reported that Thomas Kirsch II, Snyder’s former defense attorney who is now the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, suggested the mayor hire another attorney in order to ready for a January 2017 trial.

The report documents what the FBI was told by the confidential source on Dec. 6, 2016, less than a month after Snyder and Cortina were indicted.

Kirsch has recused himself from handling the Snyder case, according to court documents, and it is now being managed by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

“The government’s knowledge that Mr. Kirsch suggested Snyder may need to consider hiring another lawyer was obviously a benefit to the government, as it let them know they had additional time to investigate their case, which they have continued to do post January 2017,” Bennett said.

Bennett said investigators’ use of the confidential source to learn about the defense bolsters arguments that charges against Snyder should be dismissed or federal prosecutors removed from the case for mishandling reportedly attorney-client privileged emails.

Snyder’s defense attorneys say the charges should be dismissed or trial attorney disqualified if those email communications were accessed. Defense attorneys have argued that emails seized in 2015 were put through a faulty screening process, according to court documents, and the trial team accessed and used privileged communications.

Federal prosecutors say Snyder has not presented any evidence that shows his emails communications were used in any improper way during the investigation, according to court documents, and that a judge should not disqualify the prosecutors on the case or dismiss any charges against the Portage mayor.

Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen has not ruled on the request to dismiss or disqualify the trial team.

The motion to suppress the information gained from the confidential human source was one of a series of motions Snyder’s defense team filed Friday.