The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to review former Portage Mayor James Snyder’s conviction on a public corruption charge involving garbage truck contracts.
Snyder submitted a writ of certiorari in August, thus delaying reporting to the Bureau of Prisons to serve out his 21-month sentence. Snyder’s case has dragged on for several years after two federal trials and two convictions, one on the bribery charge and another on defrauding the IRS through his personal business. A federal jury found Snyder, 45, a Republican, not guilty in a third case, a bribery charge involving a tow truck contract.
The Supreme Court, which receives around 7,000 writs annually, usually only grants review to 100-150 cases, according to uscourts.gov, and four of the justices have to agree to accept the case. Snyder’s appeal noted there is disagreement among circuit courts over the difference between bribes and gratuities, and the Supreme Court often is asked to clarify conflicting decisions in the federal circuit courts.
Snyder’s attorneys will be asked to submit a brief in the case, with federal prosecutors filing a response. Deadlines on briefs and potential oral arguments have not yet been scheduled according to the Supreme Court docket.
Snyder was elected mayor in 2011 and reelected in 2015. He resigned in February 2019 after his first conviction on the IRS and garbage truck charges; in a second trial a jury confirmed the guilty verdict in the garbage truck case. Snyder was indicted in November 2016, on the same day former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich, who is serving a 12-year sentence in federal prison, was indicted on public corruption charges.
Federal attorneys argued in a November filing that Snyder does not deserve to have his conviction on a public corruption charge involving garbage truck contracts reviewed because earlier court rulings in the case indicate Snyder received a bribe of $13,000 in regard to a contract for garbage trucks.
Their main dispute is whether that $13,000 payment was a gratuity. Documents show the payment was received after the garbage trucks were purchased in exchange for consulting services reportedly provided by Snyder to Great Lakes Peterbilt, the company that sold the garbage trucks.
Federal prosecutors zeroed in on the fact there was no written agreement between Snyder and the Buha brothers, who owned Great Lakes Peterbilt, to provide consulting services for health care and information technology, nor was there evidence of any work done under the arrangement.
“As both the court of appeals and district court recognized, the government provided evidence that petitioner received not just a gratuity but a quid pro quo bribe in connection with the City of Portage’s truck purchases,” the filing states.
The filing goes on to note that Snyder and his associate, Randy Reeder, who was the city’s assistant superintendent of streets and sanitation, “took numerous steps to rig the contract-bidding process in favor of the Buha brothers’ company.”
Amy Lavalley contributed.