The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions and sentences of former Lackawanna County commissioners Robert C. Cordaro and A.J. Munchak on corruption charges, but returned the case to federal court to re-evaluate the amount of restitution Mr. Cordaro was ordered to pay.
The ruling by a three-member panel of the court rejects Mr. Cordaro's and Mr. Munchak's claims that the trial judge improperly instructed jurors on the evidence needed to convict them of bribery and extortion. The court also dismissed Mr. Cordaro's claims the judge wrongly precluded certain defense witnesses from testifying and that prosecutors were improperly permitted to question him about other witnesses' credibility.
The panel did find merit in Mr. Cordaro's argument that there was insufficient evidence to support the $98,856 in restitution he was ordered to pay relating to false tax returns he filed.
The ruling comes just two weeks after prosecutors and defense attorneys argued the case before the court. Mr. Munchak's attorney, Lisa Mathewson, said she is reviewing the decision to determine whether she will seek a reargument before the court. Mr. Cordaro's attorney, Peter Goldberger, declined to comment.
Mr. Cordaro and Mr. Munchak were convicted in June 2011 of multiple charges, including bribery, extortion and money laundering, relating to a scheme to extort money from companies that did business with Lackawanna County during their tenure as majority commissioners. Mr. Cordaro was sentenced to 11 years in prison; Mr. Munchak to seven years.
Ms. Mathewson argued that Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo wrongly instructed jurors that they could convict him for taking money, even if he never promised any favors in exchange for the funds. Ms. Mathewson maintained the law states that the government had to show there was an implicit quid pro quo in place, but Judge Caputo failed to instruct the jury on that element.
In rejecting the claim, the Third Circuit court said Judge Caputo did tell jurors they could convict Mr. Munchak only if they found he took payment "with the intent to be influenced or rewarded." The court also noted several witnesses testified they paid Mr. Munchak, not as a reward for past actions, but because they feared they would lose future contracts and were concerned he would hold up payment on existing contracts.
The court also rejected Mr. Munchak's claim that Judge Caputo wrongly concluded he attempted to obstruct justice when he contacted several witnesses while the case was pending - a ruling that added time to his sentence. Mr. Munchak maintained he was only trying to clarify their recollection of incidents and was not attempting to influence their statements to authorities.
Mr. Goldberger argued Judge Caputo erred by allowing prosecutors to ask Mr. Cordaro if witnesses who testified they paid him money had lied.
The court noted such questions are improper as they force a witness to testify to something he cannot know. The panel still rejected the claim, however, noting Mr. Cordaro's trial attorney, William Costopoulos, did not object to the line of questioning at trial.
"Courts of appeals generally have not reversed a conviction solely because such questions were posed unless opposing counsel specifically objects to them. Here there was no objection and the error is not prejudicial," the court said.
Regarding the witness testimony that was precluded, the court made no finding whether the judge's decision was correct. It rejected the claim on the basis that, even if a mistake was made, it was harmless because other evidence against Mr. Cordaro was so overwhelming he would have been convicted regardless of their testimony.
The court did order Judge Caputo to re-calculate the amount of restitution Mr. Cordaro owes, which was based on taxes owed on bribe money he received, The specific legal statute under which Mr. Cordaro was charged only requires him to pay taxes on money if he conspired with others to evade taxes.
The court found there was some evidence to support that two of the people who paid bribes conspired with Mr. Cordaro to evade taxes, but there was no evidence that two others who paid were part of a conspiracy. It ordered Judge Caputo to re-calculate the amount of taxes owed after deducting the amount of the bribes paid by those two people.
Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com