<!--Rick Pfeiffer--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Rick Pfeiffer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com">rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
Federal prosecutors are asking a U.S. District Court judge to reject an appeal by former Falls Mayor Vince Anello looking to overturn recommendations from a magistrate judge.
In a filing with Judge William Skretny, Assistant United State Attorney Paul Campana argues the recommendations made by Magistrate Judge Jeremiah McCarthy should “be adopted.” Anello’s defense team is asking Skretny to reject the recommendation and dismiss the public corruption charges contained in a multi-count indictment that led to the former mayor’s arrest just over one year ago.
Skretny has scheduled a status conference on the Anello case for Nov. 23.
In late July, McCarthy rejected arguments that prosecutors failed to properly lay out their case against the former mayor in the indictment and dismissed defense claims some of the charges lodged against Anello are unconstitutional.
Anello is charged with single felony counts of conspiracy and obstruction and two counts of scheme to deprive honest services. The charges stem from his dealings with Tuscarora businessman and developer Joseph Anderson and three loans that Anello received from him.
Anderson has pleaded guilty to a single count of scheme to deprive and is currently free on his own recognizance. Skretny has delayed sentencing for Anderson because he is co-operating with federal prosecutors.
At a hearing Oct. 29, government lawyers said Anderson was “still co-operating” with them and asked for a further delay. Anderson’s attorney, Terrence Connors, said he doesn’t expect his client to be sentenced until Anello’s case is finished.
In objections filed with Skretny, Anello’s lawyers said McCarthy’s recommendations were “clearly erroneous and contrary to law.”
Campana, in his response, says McCarthy “correctly rejected (Anello’s) interpretation of the statutes and the indictment and he properly rejected the defendant’s argument that the indictment be dismissed.”
The former mayor has claimed the checks from Anderson represented “interest-free loans” to his electrical contracting business. Prosecutors charge that Anderson gave Anello the loans so he could become “a player” in development projects in the Falls.
Defense attorney Joel Daniels has argued prosecutors fail in the indictment to show that quid pro quo between Anello and Anderson. Daniels has maintained that there is no proof that Anello took the loans from Anderson in return for his influence in getting the businessman a favorable lease for the city’s East Pedestrian Mall.
Campana, in supporting McCarthy’s ruling, argues he doesn’t need to provide proof of anything before the case goes to trial. He also contends Anello’s failure to disclose the loans to members of the City Council before recommending the mall deal for Anderson helps establish “an unlawful agreement.”
While admitting that the honest services laws are now the subject of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, in an unrelated case, Campana argues that Skretny, like McCarthy, should uphold the constitutionality of the statutes.
“Some resolution of the disagreements regarding the scope of honest services mail fraud may thus be forthcoming,” the prosecutor wrote,” until then, (an appeals court ruling upholding the laws) stands as the law of this Circuit.”
Prosecutors contend that the loans Anello received from Anderson deprived “the city of the intangible right of the honest services of a public official” because he took the loans while Anderson was doing business with the city and failed to disclose the loans as required by the city’s Ethics Law.
