In the wake of a jury’s guilty verdict for violating the federal “honest services” statute, former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he would “continue the legal fight” for his exoneration. As a next step his lawyers said they can file post-trial motions in the trial court and also appeal to the United States Court of Appeals.
“I’m just disappointed right now, and ultimately I believe after we file the legal challenges we’ll have a different result,” said Silver.
Silver was charged under a controversial law which came within a hair’s breadth of being declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court several years ago on the grounds of vagueness. The court set strict guidelines as to what had to be proved to make out a case of “honest services” violations.
In Silver’s case, prosecutors charged that there was an illegal connection between actions that Silver took in the Assembly that benefited certain individuals that gave him legal work, and thus New York citizens were denied his “honest services” as a public official. Silver denied any quid pro quo arrangement and his lawyers argued that prosecutors had not, in any event, proven that there was such an arrangement, pointing out that none of the prosecution witnesses testified that there was one.
In 2010, the conviction of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno for “honest services” violations was thrown out on appeal based on the Supreme Court’s guidelines. The appeals court held that prosecutors had not demonstrated a quid pro quo arrangement between Bruno and an individual who had benefited from actions Bruno took in the Senate and who had given Bruno consulting work.
Because of the conviction, Silver must vacate his Assembly seat, which he was allowed to hold on to during the trial.