04302019 - News Article - Judge delays public corruption sentencing for former Portage mayor

Judge delays public corruption sentencing for former Portage mayor
Chicago Tribune
April 30, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-post-trial-response-st-0501-story.html

The sentencing for the convicted former Portage mayor is being pushed three months as a federal judge weighs requests for acquittal or a new trial.

Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen on Monday pushed James Snyder’s May 24 sentencing to Sept. 24 “to allow time for the court to rule on the pending post-trial motions.” Since the end of Synder’s five-week trial, the defense has sought to show holes in the case that they say either warrant the judge throwing out the two guilty convictions or ordering a new trial, but prosecutors have said there was sufficient evidence to uphold the verdicts.

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.

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 claimed he did consulting work for the dealership, justifying the $13,000 payment.

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.

The defense argued that by not calling two men who paid Snyder $13,000, the jury did not get to hear a full telling of the events, according to court documents.

“The government could have presented evidence on that question by calling the Buhas, the only two people in the world (other than Mr. Snyder) who knew the answer,” Snyder’s attorney, Jackie Bennett, said, in court filings. “The government preferred the void to the truth, hoping the jury would speculate its way to a verdict.”

Snyder’s attorneys have said that the two former owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt could have testified but the prosecutors did not grant them immunity because they thought the two brothers would not testify truthfully.

“The government failed to show that the Buhas would commit perjury,” Bennett said, in a motion.

Snyder was not obligated to report he payment from Great Lakes Peterbilt in 2014, according to the defense, as that would be reported in 2015, reflecting the prior year. The defense said that the government was aware of the payment at that point and Snyder had told agents he did consulting work.

“A reasonable jury could infer that Snyder’s inconsistent claims about the type of the supposed consulting work he performed for GLPB demonstrated the corrupt nature of the arrangement,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster, in court filings.

Koster said the evidence showed that Snyder lied about the payment; lied about performing consulting work; and lied about his role in the awarding of the garbage truck bids.

“By proving Snyder’s lies, the government established his consciousness of guilt regarding his acceptance of the payment and his role in ensuring GLPB won the lucrative contracts,” Koster said.

The defense has aimed to show that the government’s case left a void for the jury.

“The government presented no communications that could plausibly be characterized as incrimination. Nor did it provide any witness testimony going to the intent of the central players in the case,” Bennett said in court filings. “Indeed, the government presented almost no relevant witness testimony at all. The government preferred to allow the jury to fill the voids in its evidence with speculation.”

On the tax charge, the defense has said that Snyder knew of his tax debt, wanted to settle it and made payments on both the personal and business tax liabilities.

Bennett said the government sought to show that Snyder misstated his income, but trial testimony showed that was false and the IRS never looked what a Portage mayor makes in annual salary.

“At trial, the government established that Snyder’s conduct consisted of a complicated, multi-year scheme in which he submitted numerous false documents, under oath, in an attempt to convince the IRS that he could not pay his business or personal income taxes, and, when that failed, that the IRS should forego collection efforts and allow him to make low-installment payments toward the amount he owed,” Koster said.

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