Sharpe Shenanigans: Federal Judge Prods for Bruno Conviction

The Bruno jury in Albany is hung. After six full days of deliberation, the Jury has passed notes to Judge Gary Sharpe, a hard-drinking former U.S Attorney for this district, with questions that are all arguably favorable to the 81 year old Former Majority Leader in the New york Senate.

Joe Bruno the legendary longtime leader of the New York Senate Republicans stands accused of ” the theft of honest services, ” but the Feds never proved a crime at trial. New York’s political class is waiting with bated breath for a vedict.

Joe Bruno: Target of Political Hit Job

The Judge  in the Albany trial wanted to give the Jury an “Allen charge” – meaning a directive that they MUST reach a consensus when the have failed to do so. It gives juries the impression they cannot come back and announce they are deadlocked. It is a wicked pro-prosecution tool- after the first note requesting clarifications of the “reasonable doubt” standard- a true jump of the gun.

Supported for his job by Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sharpe has a son who is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the same office and jurisdiction where Bruno is being prosecuted . Sharpe should have recused himself on that basis alone.

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Tags: Allen Charge, Bruno fraud trial, Charles Schumer, Gary Sharpe, honest services law
Posted Dec 6th 2009 at 5:33 pm in Featured Story, Justice/Legal, News, Politics, State Politics | 4189016 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/rstone/2009/12/06/sharpe-shenanigans-federal-judge-prods-for-bruno-conviction/Sharpe+Shenanigans%3A+Federal+Judge+Prods+for+Bruno+Conviction2009-12-07+00%3A33%3A54Roger+Stone

Federal Judge Runs Amok: Can Joe Bruno Get a Fair Trial?

Whether or not you think former New York Republican Senate Majority leader Joe Bruno, who reigned over Albany in a triumvirate of power for 27 years, is guilty or not, he has the right to a fair trial and an impartial Judge. It appears he is getting neither.

Bruno has been indicted under the controversial ” theft of honest services” law. The same law that Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia says is unconstitutionally vague. Indeed, the US Supreme Court has taken not one but two “honest services cases” for review. The government has no evidence of bribes or improper pressure on government–required by the law–that Bruno took for his clients. Under New York Law, legislators are part-time  and are allowed to have outside income. Bruno , an non-lawyer with a business background, is a business consultant.

When the Government dropped hundreds of thousands of pages of new documents on Bruno’s defense team only days before trial Bruno’s lawyer asked Judge Gary Sharpe of the Northern District of New York for a mere two week delay. The motion was denied.

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Tags: Abbe Lowell, anton scalia, federal judge, Gary Sharpe, Joe Bruno
Posted Nov 16th 2009 at 7:31 am in Culture, Justice/Legal, Politics, State Politics | 3145422 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/rstone/2009/11/16/prosecutors-dad-is-presiding-federal-judge-can-joe-bruno-get-a-fair-trial/Federal+Judge+Runs+Amok%3A+Can+Joe+Bruno+Get+a+Fair+Trial%3F2009-11-16+14%3A31%3A12Roger+Stone