Dean Skeloss 2015 Corruption Conviction Is Overturned (NYTimes)
Dean Skeloss 2015 Corruption Conviction Is Overturned
By BENJAMIN WEISER
SEPT. 26, 2017
https://nyti.ms/2jXQyjU
A federal appeals panel on Tuesday overturned the 2015 corruption convictions of Dean G. Skelos, once the powerful majority leader of the New York State Senate, and his son, Adam B. Skelos, citing a decision last year of the United States Supreme Court that narrowed the legal definition of corruption.
The ruling comes roughly two and a half months after another appellate panel cited the same Supreme Court decision to vacate the conviction of Sheldon Silver, the former longtime Democratic speaker of the State Assembly. Mr. Skelos and Mr. Silver both forfeited their seats upon their convictions.
Mr. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, and his son were convicted in December 2015 of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged that the men abused the fathers office to pressure a Manhattan developer, a medical malpractice insurer and an environmental technology company to provide the son with hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting work, a no-show job and a direct payment of $20,000.
But a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan cited the Supreme Court decision, which involved Bob McDonnell, the former Republican governor of Virginia, and was handed down more than six months after the Skeloses were convicted.
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