Will federal prosecutors opt to retry former US Rep. Corrine Brown?
Ex-Congresswoman’s 2017 conviction and sentence were tossed by federal appeals court Thursday
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a federal appeals court ordered a new trial on Thursday for former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday that it’s reviewing the decision and declined to comment on whether prosecutors will pursue a retrial of the once-powerful Florida Democrat.
Brown had served just over two years of a five-year sentence for fraud and other crimes related to a purported charity for poor students that prosecutors said she had used as a personal slush fund.
COMMENTARY | The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, sharply divided along partisan lines, reversed the high-profile 2017 convictions of ex-U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown on fraud and tax crimes on Thursday, with the Republican majority finding the judge overseeing Brown s case wrongly dismissed a juror who believed the holy spirit had told him the former congresswoman was innocent. The court ordered a new trial, though it s not clear if prosecutors will pursue one.
It was, at first blush, an incredibly surprising development that the all-Republican, seven-judge majority six of whom were the most junior judges appointed by Donald J. Trump in the past four years sided with Brown, Jacksonville s most notorious Democrat. But the decision speaks to both the passions the case inflamed on the religious right and to the nine-lives luck of a devil-may-care former congresswoman who long ago forged an unholy alliance with Republicans throughout her decades in office.
Former Rep. Corrine Brown seen talking with the press in Tallahassee, Fla., in 2015.
TALLAHASSEE - A divided federal appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the “Holy Spirit” told him Brown was not guilty.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
Brown’s appeal focused on whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan was justified in replacing the juror - known as Juror 13 - with an alternate because of the statement about the Holy Spirit.
Conviction overturned in Florida congresswomanâs fraud case
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Corrine Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
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In this May 5, 2017 photo, former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown walks to the federal courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. [ BOB SELF | AP ]
By Jim Saunders
Updated Yesterday
TALLAHASSEE â A divided federal appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the âHoly Spiritâ told him Brown was not guilty.
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Rep. Corrine Brown spent nearly 25 years in the U.S. House after serving in the Florida Legislature.
A divided federal appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the “Holy Spirit” told him Brown was not guilty.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
Brown’s appeal focused on whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan was justified in replacing the juror - known as Juror 13 - with an alternate because of the statement about the Holy Spirit.