The Philadelphia Traffic Court judges charged with a scheme to defraud the city of Philadelphia by allegedly fixing tickets should not face prosecution because the possibility that the city might have received money from those traffic offenses is too attenuated to support the criminal cases, a defense attorney argued in federal court Monday.
Defense counsel argued that the crimes of mail and wire fraud require schemes to deprive victims of legally recognized, vested property rights, and that no property interest is implicated until guilty adjudications are reached.
