Ferriero wants to delay his sentencing until the Supreme Court decides on "honest services"

by: Jason Springer

Tue Dec 15, 2009 at 08:42:19 PM EST

I wrote over the weekend about how the United States Supreme Court had heard two cases looking at the honest services statute and the potential implications of their decision on Joe Ferriero. Ferriero is now asking to have his sentencing delayed until the Supreme Court decides:

In a Dec. 14 letter, Ferriero's attorney told U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler that he will ask for the February sentencing to be deferred until the justices issue opinions on the "honest services" statute, a controversial anti-corruption law used to convict public officials nationwide. During arguments last week, several Supreme Court justices asked whether the law was too vague, prompting legal experts to predict they may find it unconstitutional. The court is expected to issue its ruling by July.
"So that there are no surprises, we intend to request that the court defer any final decisions on all honest services issues until we receive the opinions from the United States Supreme Court," wrote the lawyer, Joseph A. Hayden Jr.

Stay tuned to this one.

Jason Springer :: Ferriero wants to delay his sentencing until the Supreme Court decides on "honest services"

Tags: Joe Ferriero, corruption, Chris Christie, honest services, honest services statue, (All Tags)

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Ferriero wants to delay his sentencing until the Supreme Court decides on "honest services" | 1 comments

Only A Republican Supreme Court.... (0.00 / 0)

...could find that a law that requires honest services from an official is unconstitutional.

It's almost funny.

If Ferriero beats the rap on this one thanks to the likes of Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia; then it's time to amend the US Constitution.

The Christie/Bush justice department did a piss poor job. They should have used RICO statutes and gone after the whole web of systemic corruption that strangles NJ......Ferriero would have been caught up in that web along with many hundreds of others.

Christie's people never squeezed Oury hard enough to get him to spill all the beans.....there should have been no plea bargains at all.

There is hardly an action at any level of governance or regulation in NJ that is purely taken because it's simply the best thing to do for the PEOPLE.

It's all affected/polluted by who knows who and who owes who. The average resident doesn't even bother to register to vote let alone get out to vote....and the machines like it that way.

As for letting Joe remain free while awaiting the SCOTUS decision.......it'll be interesting to read the court's rationale for that one.

And it's not just Ferriero, but all manner of corrupt convicted criminals that will have their convictions thrown out if the money driven Republican dominated SCOTUS decides to give them a get out of jail free card.

We need new and tougher laws that actually make it a CRIME to be a crooked pol! And the penalties need to be truly severe!!!

Betraying the public trust, and/or messing with public servants is a kind of terrorism in that it is a direct assault on our democracy itself. These kinds of crimes are WORSE than an armed robbery of a bank....and they should be punished by stiffer sentences.....up to and including life in prison with no parole.

The people who commit these kinds of crimes are not acting out of irrational passion. They are bastards but they are smart calculating bastards.

If they understood that being a corrupt pol might land them in jail for thirty years to life,and that there was a high probability of getting caught.....most would choose to find another line of work. As it is, crime pays, and pays well in New Jersey......and even if you get busted...it's for some petty little shit oversite...and then the conviction gets overturned by the republican Bush/Christie supreme court....all nice and "legal", eh?

As it is now, Ferriero is just the tip of the iceberg who got busted for a relatively minor offense.

The whole SYSTEM is corrupt and routinely so. And the guy who did virtually nothing about when it was his job to clean up the mess, it will be our next governor! What a sick joke!

If the Republican SCOTUS says we can't make and enforce laws against folks who fail to provide "honest services" then we are in deep shit as a nation.

There's nothing "vague" about the word HONEST!!!

by: Nick Lento @ Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 02:14:31 AM UTC