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Dean & Adam Skelos Free To Roam The Earth Seeking More Kickbacks During Appeal
By
David Colon
Published Aug 5, 2016
Modified Aug 5, 2016
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By
David Colon
Published Aug 5, 2016
Modified Aug 5, 2016
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Dean Skelos, and his failson Adam, are being allowed out of prison during their appeal on federal bribery convictions, after a federal judge ruled in favor of the Skeloses' attorneys' argument that the jury instructions used to convict the two were misleading, according to the New York Times.
Federal judge Kimba M. Wood agreed with arguments attorneys for both Skeloses made that instructions asking jurors to consider "official acts" undertaken by the Skeloses weren't valid in light of a Supreme Court decision reclassifying what an "official act" really is. The appeal is based on a recent Supreme Court decision, McDonnell v. United States. In the decision, the court unanimously ruled that for prosecutors to prove bribery, they had to show a distinct difference between a public official doing a normal constituent service for someone who just happened to get them lavish gifts and that public official undertaking "an official act" outside the bounds of normal constituent relations in exchange for personal gain.
Whether the case will actually help the Skeloses remains to be seen. Former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell was able to skate on the claim that all he did was introduce the maker of the diet pills who gave him expensive gifts to some state officials, which he would have done for any poor who asked him to, but never used the power of his office to endorse the pills.
The elder Skelos, on the other hand, was caught pressuring real estate developer Glenwood Management, which has had plenty of business before the state, to give Adam Skelos a $20,000 check and hook the younger Skelos up with a consulting job at an environmental company, as well as using his influence to get his son a do-nothing job at a medical malpractice firm.
The younger Skelos, in turn, was supposed to be at environmental company AbTech in order to use his father's contacts to get the firm government contracts. That didn't work in AbTech's favor, as Dean Skelos would eventually demand the company give Adam a $6,000 raise or lose a $12 million contract from the state. Adam Skelos also threatened to "smash the fucking head in" of his boss at his no-show job, which is just rude.
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David Colon
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