Maureen McDonnell’s appeal was pending while prosecutors decided whether to retry the former governor under new parameters laid out by the Supreme Court.
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The businessman wrote checks to help McDonnell pay credit card and real estate debts and cover the cost of catering his daughter’s wedding. Among the gifts were a Rolex watch, $20,000 worth of designer clothes for McDonnell’s wife, Maureen, and the use of a country club, a vacation home, and a Ferrari sports vehicle.
Bob McDonnell leaves the Supreme Court in Washington, on April 27, 2016, after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the corruption case against McDonnell. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen McDonnell, on corruption charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. But the Supreme Court said the prosecution’s definition of the term – to include setting up meetings and hosting events – was too broad.
At issue was what constituted the scope of “official action” under federal corruption law.
A conviction would have been more hard under the new legal definitions set by the high court’s precedent.
Several state lawmakers and members of Virginia’s congressional delegation had urged Attorney General Loretta Lynch not to retry McDonnell, arguing that he and his family have suffered enough.
The motion states that “The United States respectfully moves for this court to remand this case to the district court for the United States to file a motion to dismiss the indictment with prejudice under Fed”.
A judge still has to approve the motion for the charges against the McDonnells formally be dismissed. Her appeal was on hold before the Fourth Circuit while his case went to the Supreme Court. “We are thrilled and thankful that Maureen can now move on with her life”.
“We thank the Department of Justice for the care with which they reviewed the case, Maureen McDonnell’s attorney William A. Burck of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, said after the charges were dropped”.
FILE – in this May 12, 2015 file photo, Former Virginia Gov.
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Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen arrive at the U.S. District Court in Richmond on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014, for his and his wife Maureen’s bond hearing and arraignment on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 on federal corruption charges. U.S. Attorney Dana Boente’s office said Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, that prosecutors will not pursue another trial in light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that overturned the former governor’s corruption conviction.
