Former Portage mayor fighting obstruction claim as federal sentencing nears
NWI Times
Jun 25, 2021
HAMMOND — Former Portage Mayor James Snyder has been granted a one-week delay to respond to a request for an enhanced sentence in his federal bribery case based on claims by the government that he obstructed justice by asking a witness to recant his statements, according to a new court filing.
The response from Snyder's camp was due Thursday, but his legal team sought and was granted a filing delay until next Thursday.
"In order to adequately address the enhancement sought by the government, as well as to rebut other enhancements designed to increase Mr. Snyder’s Guidelines calculation, a short extension of seven (7) days is needed," his legal team wrote in its motion.
The defense said it has no intention of seeking a delay in the July 16 sentencing and does not believe the filing extension will impact any other case deadlines.
At issue is the government's claim that Snyder encouraged then-Assistant Portage Superintendent of Streets and Sanitation Randy Reeder to retract certain statements "regarded as unhelpful to the defendant," the defense said. The defense said it believes the claim is "unsupported in the record."
Reeder, who was granted prosecutorial immunity during Snyder's second bribery trial in March, told jurors Snyder had asked him to retract the unhelpful testimony. He referred to Snyder as his friend and then-boss.
"A proper response will require the review of voluminous transcripts of prior testimony by Mr. Reeder," Snyder's legal defense argued.
Federal prosecutors said last week they are seeking to impose a lengthy sentence on Snyder for bribery and tax evasion.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster has calculated the proposed sentence at between 46 to 57 months.
Koster argues that justice demands Snyder’s imprisonment to deter other elected officials from public corruption.
She said the government has twice proved Snyder, 43, a Republican, solicited and accepted a $13,000 bribe in 2014 in return for steering a $1.125 million garbage collection contract to the local Great Lakes Peterbilt company.
She said Snyder also obstructed the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to collect unpaid taxes on a private mortgage company he ran.
He was indicted in late 2016 and was first found guilty in early 2019 of the bribery charge and federal tax violations. He is awaiting sentencing on the tax violations, but the bribery verdict was overturned later in 2019 and the March retrial was held.
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