03162020 - News Article - Retrial delayed for second time in case against former Portage Mayor James Snyder

Retrial delayed for second time in case against former Portage Mayor James Snyder
Chicago Tribune
March 16, 2020
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-snyder-update-st-0317-20200316-lab63fvwn5gxrjpi4xqqq5vyya-story.html

The April retrial for Former Portage Mayor James Snyder has been delayed for the second time, and a new retrial date has not been set.

On March 10, following a telephonic conference, Chief Judge Theresa Springmann vacated the April 27 retrial date to allow prosecutors to respond to Snyder’s attorney’s motions to dismiss the soliciting bribes charge Snyder will be retried on, according to court records.

The first motion to dismiss argues double jeopardy and a separate motion to dismiss appeals to the court to “exercise its supervisory power and order him acquitted of, or otherwise dismiss,” the count, according to court records.

Prosecutors have until April 10 to respond to the motions and Snyder’s attorneys can reply to the prosecutor’s response by April 24, according to court records. The April 27 retrial date -- which was initially scheduled for March 23 -- was vacated, and a new retrial date hasn’t been set, according to court records.

In a supporting motion, filed March 5, Snyder’s attorneys argued that the double jeopardy standard applies in this case because brothers Robert and Steve Buhas, former owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt, were granted immunity with “no-notice, mid-trial” following a grand jury testimony that took “the Court completely by surprise,” according to court records. With their testimony, according to the document, “there is a strong likelihood that Mr. Snyder would have been acquitted.”

In a separate motion, also filed March 5, Snyder’s attorney’s argued that the court should use its “supervisory power” to acquit him because the prosecutors “deprived Mr. Snyder of eyewitnesses as to what happened between him and the Buhas ... much of the evidence he had expected to place before the jury,” according to court records.

Snyder, who was indicted in November 2016, 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 owing 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.

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.

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