Cantrell case should hold up, Capp says
Post-Tribune (IN)
July 10, 2010
U.S. Attorney David Capp says the conviction of political insider Robert Cantrell should be upheld despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that narrowed federal prosecutors' use of the honest services fraud statute.
The Supreme Court ruled the law should only be used against people who took bribes or kickbacks. In a letter to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals filed Tuesday, Capp said that's exactly what happened in the Cantrell case.
"The indictment alleged, and the evidence established, a kickback scheme involving Cantrell," Capp wrote.
Capp points to the first count in Cantrell's indictment, where he is accused of receiving a share of revenue received by Addiction and Family Care Inc. from the North Township Trustee's office while he was employed there. A jury found Cantrell guilty on that and several other counts in 2008.
"Cantrell ... used his supervisory position at North Township and his influence and access to the North Township Trustee to steer the North Township contract renewals to AFC for private gain," Capp wrote.
Bryan Truitt, Cantrell's attorney, told the Post-Tribune last month his client's conviction of honest services fraud should be overturned because of the Supreme Court's decision.
"There's no allegations of bribes or kickbacks, so I think that one is going to have to be reversed," Truitt said.
Cantrell was already appealing his conviction before last month's ruling.
Though Cantrell was convicted on other charges, Truitt said the honest services fraud conviction helped extend his prison sentence to seven years.
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