04112019 - News Article - Former Portage mayor says court ruling bolsters aquittal efforts

Former Portage mayor says court ruling bolsters aquittal efforts
Chicago Tribune
April 11, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-supplemental-motion-st-0412-story.html

Attorneys for Portage’s convicted former mayor are saying a recent court ruling that threw out a conviction based on “opinion testimony” should support their motion for acquittal.

James Snyder’s attorneys are citing a recent 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision bolsters the former mayor’s case for Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to acquit him of bribery and obstruction the IRS convictions.

Snyder’s attorney referenced the appeals court’s ruling in the case of Andres Garcia, who was convicted of distributing cocaine, citing a lack of witness testimony that tied him to the alleged crime. The court said the case against Garcia instead “the government secured this verdict based upon a federal agent’s opinion testimony” that interpreted intercepted phone calls.

The 7th Circuit vacated Garcia’s conviction.

“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.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to file a response to Snyder’s post-trial motions April 12.

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.

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.

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

The defense argued that by not calling two men who paid Snyder $13,000, for what Snyder said was consulting services, after a deal to sell Portage garbage trucks, the jury did not get to hear a full telling of the events, according to court documents.