01282020 - News Article - Judge grants new trial for one count against former Portage Mayor

Judge grants new trial for one count against former Portage Mayor
Chicago Tribune
January 28, 2020
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-snyder-new-trial-dates-st-0129-20200128-dg6totg3efculj3k4csjrgkrvi-story.html

Former Portage Mayor James Snyder, who was convicted of bribery and obstructing the IRS almost a year ago, will return in March to federal court in Hammond to retry one of the counts against him, according to his lawyers.

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 assets from the IRS while owning back personal and business taxes. The jury acquitted Snyder of a third count that alleged he took a $12,000 bribe to get a company on Portage’s tow list.

Snyder, 41, has agreed to forfeit $13,000 to the federal government, documents show.

In February 2019, Snyder filed a motion for a new trial and acquittal on the two counts because of “alleged prosecutorial misconduct” related to the soliciting bribes count and “the Government failed to present sufficient evidence from which a rational jury could find the defendant guilty” regarding corruptly interfering with the administration of the Internal Revenue Service laws, according to the order.

In November, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen denied Snyder’s motion for acquittal to both charges, according to the court order. Van Bokkelen denied a motion for a new trial for the corruptly interfering with the IRS charge, but he granted the motion for a new trial on soliciting bribes charge, according to the order.

In December, after Chief Judge Theresa L. Springmann was assigned to the case, Snyder filed motions to dismiss the two counts and a motion to “strike, or in the alternative, an extension of time to seek reconsideration,” on Van Bokkelen’s ruling on the soliciting bribes count, according to the court order.

Springmann issued an order Jan. 21 denying the motions, among other motions the still required rulings in the case.

Following a Friday telephone conference, a jury trial has been set to start March 23 and could last about two weeks, according to court records. Jayna Cacioppo, one of Snyder’s attorneys, confirmed Tuesday the trial will focus on the soliciting bribes count and that the obstruction charge “stands” because he was convicted by the jury.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, which oversaw the prosecution, said that Snyder could face up to 10 years in prison on the bribery charge, and up to three years in prison on the obstruction charge.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana was recused from the case, absent two prosecutors, as U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch II previously represented Snyder.

Snyder, a Republican, was indicted in November 2016 and charged with allegedly violating a federal bribery statute and obstruction or impeding the IRS.

Prosecutors said 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 Peterbuilt, which was then owned by Robert and Stephen Buha.

Defense attorneys say that Snyder used his experience in offering health insurance to city employees through the Affordable Care Act and suggesting technology upgrades to Great Lakes Peterbilt.

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.

Federal prosecutors said Snyder allegedly solicited money from co-defendant John Cortina, of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, and “Individual A” and gave them a towing contract for Portage.

Cortina, 80, in January 2019 pleaded guilty to a charge that he paid bribes to Snyder to get a spot on the tow list. Cortina did not testify during the trial, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself, according to court documents.

Cortina was sentenced Jan. 22 to time served and a $12,000 fine.

Snyder has maintained his innocence during the more than three years since he was indicted.