U.S. Seeks to Retry Ex-N.Y. Official (Joseph Bruno)

Source: The New York Times

Federal prosecutors will seek a new trial of the former State Senate leader Joseph L. Bruno, after a Supreme Court ruling that limited the law under which he was convicted last year, according to a letter sent to Mr. Bruno’s lawyers by Richard S. Hartunian, the United States attorney for the Northern District of New York.

The letter, dated Oct. 26, provides the first glimpse of how prosecutors believe the Supreme Court’s ruling affects their case against Mr. Bruno, 81, whose efforts to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from a businessman led to one of the highest-profile Albany corruption cases in recent decades.

It comes as Mr. Bruno’s lawyers are preparing an appeal of his conviction before a federal appeals court, which will ultimately decide whether to throw out the conviction or order a new trial in Federal District Court.

In the letter, Mr. Hartunian argued that prosecutors presented enough evidence in the trial to convict Mr. Bruno, a Republican, even under the Supreme Court’s narrowed interpretation of the so-called honest-services law. All the ruling requires, Mr. Hartunian wrote, is to retry Mr. Bruno, this time with jury instructions that pass Supreme Court muster.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/nyregion/17bruno.html

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Read: Republican.

"prosecutors presented enough evidence in the trial to convict Mr. Bruno, a Republican"