A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the corruption conviction of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, saying the jury was improperly instructed on the law in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan voided Silver’s November 2015 conviction for honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering, even though federal prosecutors had presented “sufficient” evidence to prove those charges.
Silver’s case was returned to the trial court for further proceedings.
Silver, for decades one of the state’s most powerful politicians, was sentenced in May 2016 to 12 years in prison for collecting millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks.
