Judge lets Skelos stay free pending appeal

Defense bases hopes on recent Supreme Court case

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Dean and Adam Skelos have scored a victory in their bid to stay out of prison while they appeal their corruption convictions.

On Aug. 4, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood granted the father and son’s motion to continue being held free on bail as they appeal their sentences. “Defendants have shown that their appeals present a substantial question regarding whether this Court’s jury instructions were erroneous in light of the United States Supreme Court’s holding in McDonnell v. United States,” read the order. “And because neither Defendant presents a risk of flight or a danger to the community.”

Last month, lawyers for the Skeloses asked for at least a new trial, based on a recent Supreme Court Case, McDonnell vs. United States. In that case, the court unanimously overturned the corruption conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, ruling that the definition of “official act” under corruption laws was too vague. McDonnell and his wife had received money and gifts from a businessman in exchange for meetings with officials. The court said the actions were “tawdry” but too broad to qualify as “official acts” under federal anti-corruption law.

Wood sentenced the men on May 12 for their parts in corruption schemes that leveraged the elder Skelos’s influence as majority leader of the State Senate to procure jobs and monetary payments for his son. Dean was sentenced to five years in prison and a $500,000 fine, while Adam was sentenced to six and a half years. The two were also ordered to repay the $334,120 their scheme earned.

The Skeloses’ attorneys claim their convictions cannot be upheld because what they did no longer constitutes corruption in light of the McDonnell case.