UPDATE: Former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich appeals jury conviction for bribery, fraud
NWI Times
September 27, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/update-former-lake-county-sheriff-john-buncich-appeals-jury-conviction/article_3b37f861-ebc9-5f24-9c05-0d4d0d8454df.html
Buncich--06
CROWN POINT — Former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich filed an appeal Wednesday alleging there was insufficient evidence for a jury to have convicted him last fall on fraud charges.
He also claims evidence regarding cash deposits made in his personal bank account was “highly prejudicial” and should result in his conviction being overturned.
Buncich, 72, was convicted Aug. 24, 2017, after more than two weeks of trial on five counts of wire fraud and one count of bribery on allegations he was paid bribes in exchange for lucrative towing vehicles.
Buncich was sentenced Jan. 16 to 188 months, about 15 1/2 years, in federal prison for the convictions.
Buncich's appeal was filed late Wednesday. Kerry Connor, his defense attorney, requested in the appeal the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturn the former sheriff's convictions on the wire fraud charges, because there was “woefully insufficient evidence” to support his conviction.
Alternatively, she requested the higher court overturn all his convictions because the government was permitted to introduce “highly prejudicial” evidence related to Buncich's bank account at trial.
Appeal: Fraud charges fail
It is rare for an appellate court to overturn a jury conviction due to insufficient evidence. However, the appeal notes “reversal is appropriate when there is an absence of credible, properly admitted evidence, however weighed, from which the jury could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Buncich meets the “heavy burden” of proof necessary for overturning the fraud convictions, Connor claims.
The five wire fraud charges were based on wire transfers made between 2014 and 2015.
Two wire transfers were specifically tied to bribes, according to the superseding indictment.
On April 8, 2014, Scott Jurgensen, an FBI informant and owner of Samson's Towing in Merrillville, paid a bribe to Buncich in the form of a $2,000 check for Buncich Boosters and an additional $500 in cash.
On Oct. 21, 2014, Jurgensen and William “Willie” Szarmach, the former owner of CSA Towing in Lake Station, paid a second bribe to Buncich, again in the form of two, $2,000 checks for the Lake County Democratic Central Committee and a total $1,000 in cash.
Both bribes were tied to "J.P. Morgan Chase wire transfers," the indictment states.
The other three wire fraud charges were based on three “Federal Reserve payroll funds transfers” made May 5, 2014, Nov. 17, 2014, and Aug. 10, 2015.
Connor notes in the appeal the indictment gave “no clue” as to the nature of those alleged "payroll funds transfers," or what was fraudulent about them. She claims evidence related to those wire transfers also was “conspicuously absent” from the government's presentation at trial.
Connor notes the only payroll records submitted as evidence at trial were for Buncich and two Lake County policeman, but none of the payroll records dated back to 2014.
The jury sent a note to the trial court during deliberations indicating it could not “find evidence relating” to counts 1 through 3 of the indictment, the appeal states, and then sent a second question asking for a definition of “Federal Reserve payroll fund transfer.”
The judge directed the jury review the evidence presented at trial.
Connor maintains the jury's confusion was warranted; there was no evidence related to the transfers at trial.
As to the other two wire transfers, she claims there was no evidence at trial the payments by Szarmach or Jurgensen were anything more than campaign contributions.
Appeal: Court erred in bank evidence
Alternatively, Connor claims all of Buncich's convictions should be overturned because U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody erred by allowing federal prosecutors to admit evidence showing $58,100 in cash was deposited into Buncich's bank account.
Jurgensen and Szarmach allegedly made cash payments to Buncich in the amount of $26,000 between April 8, 2014, and Sept. 22, 2016. The sheriff's campaign account showed cash deposits of $11,240, which left $14,760 unaccounted for, according to the appeal.
The government wanted to present evidence of the personal bank account deposits, which might explain where the campaign money went, but Moody ruled at a pretrial hearing the deposit amounts did not seem consistent with the government's timeline or accounting.
If the government could not prove the money came from bribes, the judge did not want the jury speculating about the source of that cash, fearing it would distract from the allegations and prejudice Buncich.
Thus, he ruled the evidence inadmissible at trial.
However, Moody ruled during trial the defense “opened the door” during Buncich's testimony to allow some evidence about the bank account to be admitted.
Federal prosecutors then were allowed to recall witness Gerald Hatagan, an IRS agent, who testified he believed the $58,100 came from an illegal source because it was not claimed as income on the defendant's federal income tax returns.
Connor claims the government had no viable evidence the cash deposits were tied to criminal activity, and the judge's decision to admit the evidence was wrong.
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