The moment of truth has arrived.
Each side has a total of 30 minutes to convince a three-judge panel at the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to either set aside the jury’s verdict and potentially let McDonnell walk away a free man, or uphold it and order the former governor to report to prison. The judges could also order a new trial, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to put the case before a jury again.
Most every observer thus far seems to believe that this is a 50/50 proposition — either a renunciation of the verdict, or sending it back to trial with very specific instructions that prevent last year’s debacle from occurring.
What’s more at stake here is the Department of Justice’s definition of “honest services fraud” — used to convict Jack Abramoff and his associates — where the DOJ no longer holds a standard of a quid pro quo. All that is needed today is a quid… which has turned the stomach of many lawmakers in Richmond who are helpless against such a charge for even the purchase of a cup of coffee from a lobbyist, friend, or constituent.
Thus far, a number of rulings have gone the McDonnell’s way. Neither one is inside a prison, and both seem to have their freedom of movement.
More to the point, if there’s any silver lining behind this cloud, it has opened the door to investigating a pattern of politically-motivated prosecutions stemming from the Obama administration and elsewhere. McDonnell, a one time vice presidential selection and potential U.S. Attorney General selection should Mitt Romney had won in 2012, might have been more than the system could digest.
