NMC and Will Bardwell are stating that with today’s 5th Circuit partial reversal of Paul Minor’s conviction, the remaining portion of the conviction may hinge on the honest services fraud conviction. Here is what the WSJ Blog said about honest services fraud earlier this week:
The days of the honest services fraud law — for years a go-to statute for federal prosecutors — appear likely to be numbered.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed deep skepticism about the law, suggesting it was too vague to be constitutional.
and:
Justices across the court’s ideological spectrum seemed in agreement that the concept of honest-services fraud was so broad as to sweep almost any white lie or self-serving act into the purview of prosecutors.
and:
And if the law is struck down in full? Expect defendants convicted under the law to rush the courthouse door. Striking down the honest-services crime would trigger “an earthquake within the criminal justice community,” said David Seide, a former federal prosecutor now with Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP in Washington. Defendants convicted under the statute “will be able to say their convictions need to be reversed,” he said.
The 5th Circuit remanded Minor’s case for re-sentencing by Judge Wingate. With a possible over-turning of honest services fraud law before the Supreme Court, Paul Minor could soon be walking out of prison or the courthouse.