Appeals judges junk Skelos convictions
A Manhattan federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned the 2015 corruption convictions of former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam.
The panel cited last year’s US Supreme Court ruling in the case of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose corruption conviction was thrown out after the high court narrowed the definition of “official acts” by an office holder.
The justices found that the definition of official acts given to jurors was so broad that it could include “nearly anything a public official does.”
The Skeloses’ lawyers challenged the jury’s findings following the McDonnell ruling.
Dean Skelos was convicted of using his power to help companies in exchange for financial benefits for Adam, who was also found guilty in the scheme.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t talk,” Adam Skelos told The Post on Tuesday by phone.
His dad’s lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, said, “Senator Skelos is grateful for the court’s careful consideration of the issues and looks forward to the next steps.”
The Long Island Republican and his son were found guilty in December 2015 on charges of bribery, extortion and conspiracy.
The men abused the elder Skelos’ office to pressure a Manhattan developer, a malpractice insurer and an environmental tech company to pay Adam hundreds of thousands of dollars for consulting work he never did, prosecutors argued.
“Although the government principally advanced a theory that Dean Skelos’ arrangement for or participation in certain meetings constituted circumstantial evidence of a quid pro quo for legislative votes, it also argued in the al- ternative that the meetings themselves satisfied the official-act requirement,” the panel wrote in their decision. “When we consider the defective jury charge together with these arguments and the lack of instruction cautioning the jury that a meeting is not official action, we cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt ‘that a rational jury would have found the defendant[s] guilty absent the error.’ ”
The ruling comes less than three months after the conviction of former longtime Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was also tossed on the same grounds.
Silver had been found guilty of charges he had accepted some $4 million in illicit payments in exchange for favors.
Federal prosecutors have vowed to retry Silver and the Skeloses.
“While we are disappointed in the decision and will weigh our appellate options, we look forward to a prompt retrial,” acting US Attorney Joon Kim said on Tuesday.