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Judge orders new trial in Chicago patronage case
Legal Blog News |
2009/12/23 21:00
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| A federal judge threw out the fraud conviction of Chicago's former streets and sanitation commissioner Tuesday and granted him a new trial on charges of illegally rewarding political campaign workers with city jobs.brpAl Sanchez was convicted at the high profile trial based on testimony from a key witness whose arrest record and gang affiliations should have been disclosed beforehand to defense attorneys but were not, Judge Robert W. Gettleman said./ppFBI agents based in Indiana also should have told prosecutors in Chicago that the witness, Brian Gabriel, was under investigation in a gang war between the Spanish Vice Lords and Latin Kings at the time of the trial, Gettleman said./ppAnd the prosecutors could have learned of that investigation if they had performed a records search, Gettleman said in his 22-page opinion./ppBased on these findings, this court has lost confidence in the integrity of the verdict convicting these defendants, Gettleman said in his 22-page opinion./ppGettleman also ordered a new trial for a youthful former aide to Sanchez, Aaron Delvalle, who was convicted of one count of perjury at the March trial./ppThe trial attracted the spotlight because as streets and sanitation commissioner Sanchez headed a department that for decades was a major pool of patronage jobs for the once mighty Chicago Democratic Machine. That spotlight was intensified because in recent years the U.S. attorney's office has conducted a major investigation of hiring fraud at City Hall./p |
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