Appeals Court Reverses Former Senate Majority Leader’s Conviction, But Allows New Criminal Trial

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s conviction on two counts of honest services fraud, but the ruling paves the way for him to be retried on corruption charges.

The federal government indicted Bruno in January 2009 on eight felony counts, charging him with violating failure to disclose material conflicts of interest between his public duties and private earnings. In December 2009, a jury acquitted him on five of the eight counts, convicted him on two and was unable to reach a verdict on the eighth.  Bruno was sentenced to 24 months in prison, but U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe stayed sentencing pending the outcome of the appeal.

Under a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Skilling v. U.S.), a federal honest services prosecution cannot stand unless a bribe or kickback was involved; the Bruno prosecution did not include any such allegations.  However, today’s ruling states “there is sufficient evidence of a quid pro quo for a reasonable jury to convict” Bruno on two counts.

The Second Circuit agreed to return the case to the lower court in Albany, where prosecutors can seek a superseding indictment and retry the case.