Fifth Circuit Requests Additional Briefing in Minor
Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit in a letter to counsel, requested additional briefing regarding Counts 11, 12, 13, and 14, which allege a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666 (what I've always referred to as the devil statute). In Minor the government charged that the agency receiving government funds was the administrative office of the courts of Mississippi. Generally you see a Section 666 violation when someone has stolen monies from say, a local transit authority, which receives in excess of $5,000 in a given year (thereby conferring federal jurisdiction). And, we all know that almost any program receives that amount from the federal government now.
The Fifth Circuit requested additional briefing on the following questions:
1) What evidence shows that the Mississippi judges were influenced or rewarded in connection with matters related to the Administrative Office of the Courts of Mississippi?
2) Describe the nexus that the “in connection with” clause of 666 requires between the Administrative Office of the Courts of Mississippi and the particular matters in front of the judges supposedly influenced by Minor’s actions.
3) What was the proof of that nexus?
4) Did the appellants adequately preserve the issue in the district court and did they adequately raise the issue on appeal?
5) If the Fifth Circuit reverses any of the Counts 11-14, what effect would that have on any of the other counts of conviction, “even if the convictions on those other counts were not to be reversed?”
The Court gave the parties until May 15 to file briefs of less than 15 pages.
More commentary on this later.
