A federal prosecutor yesterday defended the government’s decision to re-indict former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, arguing that it was entirely fair to have a second trial based on a theft of honest services theory different from that ruled invalid by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Northern District assistant U.S. attorney William Pericak told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that Bruno’s retrial for theft of honest servicesnot on the theory that Bruno failed to disclose conflicts of interest but based instead on a bribery or kickback theorywas not double jeopardy.
