STATEMENT OF MANHATTAN U.S. ATTORNEY PREET BHARARA ON THE CONVICTION OF FORMER NEW YORK ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHELDON SILVER
LawFuel.com – “Today, Sheldon Silver got justice, and at long last, so did the people of New York.”
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From the New York Times
There was no star witness, no damning testimony, no briefcase stuffed with cash that sealed the fate of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who for 20 years was one of the state’s most powerful politicians.
Instead, legal experts say, a jury convicted the Manhattan Democrat of corruption Monday based a slow drip of circumstantial evidence that painted the Manhattan Democrat as a political insider who profited from his public service.
Silver’s appeal is likely to focus on the lack of a smoking gun. The jury’s decision to convict comes as poll after poll show the public has a low opinion of its representatives in Albany.
“I still don’t think the government proved he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Albany Law School Professor Vincent Bonventre said. “I do think what they proved was what he did was unseemly and sleazy. And the defense, by saying ‘this is just Albany politics,’ I think that just further enraged the jury.”
