And while some contend the jury was able to tell that Gov. McDonnell “crossed the line” -the truth is the “line” presented to the jury was wrong: “The District Court should have instructed the jury that merely arranging a meeting or hosting an event to discuss a matter does not count as a decision or action on that matter”.
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For those who might need a refresher, it’s been well documented that McDonnell and his wife accepted lavish gifts from a dietary supplement executive named Jonnie Williams Sr. during the Republican governor’s four-year tenure.
The legal victory did not come with a laundering of the public reputation of the former governor, once a rising political start in the Republican Party. Bob McDonnell (R) the reprieve of his life – reversing his multiple convictions for corruption and effectively sparing him from federal prison.
McDonnell was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to two years in prison but had remained free pending the outcome of his appeal.
Justice Alito read from his dissent in that case, which focused on why it was inappropriate for the Supreme Court to tackle the asked-and-answered or otherwise precluded challenges to Texas’ restrictive laws; Justice Thomas did not read from either of his dissents.
In a statement, Maureen McDonnell’s attorney, William A. Burck of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, said he believe his client’s conviction will soon be thrown out. Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested the government’s reading of the phrase “official acts” was so open to interpretation that it could implicate a government janitor who accepts a beer in exchange for extra work.
That’s Virginia legal expert Rich Kelsey, who says the court’s more narrow definition of official act requires a higher level of proof for a specific action.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “Our concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes and ball gowns”.
The Supreme Court’s decision has broadly made it more hard for the government to prosecute corruption.
Those “government favors” or “official acts” were the big issue in this case.
Setting up a meeting, calling another public official or hosting an event does not, standing along, qualify as an official act, Roberts said.
But the “official act” element does not apply in the Blagojevich case, Goodman said.
Noel Francisco, a lawyer for McDonnell, argued that the lower courts stretched “corruption laws beyond recognition”. In total, the gifts and benefits that the McDonnells received were worth more than $175,000-including a Rolex watch, catering their daughter’s wedding, and a $20,000 shopping trip for Mrs. McDonnell.
McDonnell, meanwhile, helped set up meetings for Williams with state health officials, appeared at promotional events and hosted a launch event for the dietary supplement at the governor’s mansion. Though Mr. Williams ended up getting no funding support from the state and Virginia’s public universities declined to do research for the company.
In 2014, the Federal Government indicted former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen McDonnell, on bribery charges.
Roberts explained that, if such activity was swept into the federal bribery statute, it would “cast a pall” on “the basic compact underlying representative government” – that is to say, how business gets done in politics and government.
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Williams wanted McDonnell to press researchers at Virginia state universities to conduct studies that could help win US regulatory approval for Anatabloc.
