Former Portage Mayor Loses Bid to Undo Bribery, Tax Convictions

The former mayor of Portage, Ind.—who was tried twice, after winning a motion for a new trial—lost his Seventh Circuit appeal to undo convictions on federal funds bribery and tax-related obstruction charges.

James Snyder challenged the convictions, arguing among other things that the district court should have granted his motion to dismiss the indictment, and if not, to disqualify the prosecution team, after the government seized attorney-client communications during the execution of an overly-broad search warrant.

Snyder claimed the search warrant was too broad because it sought “all information” associated with his email accounts without specifying a relevant time period. ...