US v. Riley, 08-3361

US v. Riley, 08-3361, concerned a challenge to the convictions of a former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and a co-defendant for engaging in a fraudulent scheme to purchase city-owned parcels of real property. 

The court reversed in part the defendants' honest services fraud convictions as, in light of Skilling, a failure to limit honest services fraud to "bribes and kickbacks" now constitutes legal error, and this plain error affected defendants' substantial rights.  However, the court affirmed  defendants' convictions based on the remaining counts because there is sufficient evidence from which a jury could have found defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  The court also affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's post-trial motions, and held that the district court did not err in any of the challenged determinations.

Related Resource:

• Full text of US v. Riley, 08-3361