NEW YORK (AP) – A former state Senate leader and his son were granted new trials Tuesday in a corruption case that roiled a scandal-ridden statehouse. The New York lawmaker is the latest in a series of powerful politicians whose convictions unraveled because of a recent Supreme Court decision.
A federal appeals court found jurors in ex-Sen. Dean Skelos and son Adam Skelos’ case were wrongly instructed, in light of a Supreme Court decision following their 2015 convictions. The high court ruling narrowed the definition on what it takes to convict an official of corruption.
“Because we cannot conclude that the (instruction) error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, we are obliged to vacate the convictions,” the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote, less than three months after reversing former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s separate corruption conviction on the same grounds.
Together, the cases put New York’s political culture on trial and brought about the downfall of the state’s two most powerful lawmakers. Skelos is a Republican, Silver a Democrat.
Prosecutors said they would assess their appeal options but looked forward to retrying the Skelos case.