Posted on 08/28/2009 3:04:46 PM PDT by Larry381
Former New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo was convicted today by a federal jury in Albany, N.Y., of attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge John F. Pikus of the FBI’s Albany office announced.
Spargo, 66, was convicted following a three-day jury trial. Evidenced introduced at trial showed that on Nov. 13, 2003, Spargo solicited a $10,000 payment from an attorney with cases pending before him in Ulster County, while Spargo was serving as a state supreme court justice. The trial evidence showed that when the attorney declined to pay the money, Spargo increased the pressure by a second solicitation communicated through an associate. According to evidence presented at trial, on Dec. 19, 2003, Spargo directly told the attorney in a telephone conversation that he and another judge close to him had been assigned to handle cases in Ulster County, including the attorney’s personal divorce case. According to the evidence at trial, the attorney felt that if he did not pay the money, both the cases handled by his law firm and his personal divorce proceeding would be in jeopardy.
“It is a sad day indeed when a judge breaks the laws that he is sworn to enforce,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. “The Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section will continue in its singular mission to hold accountable wayward public officials who violate the law and the trust that has been placed in them.”
“Judges are supposed to serve the people who elected them, not their own self-interests. What Mr. Spargo did is nothing more than old fashioned extortion,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge John F. Pikus.
The maximum statutory penalty for the charge of soliciting a bribe is 10 years in prison and the maximum penalty for the charge of attempted extortion is 20 years. Spargo also faces a maximum fine of $250,000 for each count on which he was convicted.
This case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Richard C. Pilger and Trial Attorney M. Kendall Day of the Public Integrity Section, which is headed by Chief William M. Welch II. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Albany Division.
Since party affiliation isn’t mentioned we can assume he was a Democrat.
no mention of political party affiliation in the first paragraph so may I venture a guess?
All this pious posturing.
Makes one ill.
It seems he is a republican.
Source?
Well at least it looks like the Obama DOJ has kept some class in sticking to its policy of not mentioning party affiliation. Did prosecution of this case start under Bush?
I googled in the name and there was a lot of info.
Check it out.
I googled in Spargo’s name and there was the whole story.
Not wiki either.
So that's where that scum ended up.
So that's where that scum ended up.
Who is he?
New York has a history of colorful Supreme Court justices. Remember one who was terrorizing his mistress’s daughter and ended up in jail? In the 90’s. He was a Republican, too, if memory serves.
“Mack Daddy the Zebra” has just uncovered another “Czar” candidate for his merry band of thieves and liars.
Lanny Bruer:
As a special White House counsel, he helped represent President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1999 during independent-counsel and Congressional investigations, and the impeachment hearings.
Breuer made headlines when a friend from the White House, Sandy Berger, asked for representation after an investigation disclosed Berger’s theft of classified documents from the National Archives.
Sounds scummy enough. Thanks.
NY is confusing that the Supreme Court is a lesser court, so there are lots of Justices (many former Congressmembers from the state would “retire” to such a posting). The highest court in NY is the Court of Appeals.
I may have referred to the judge incorrectly. I wish I remembered his name.
I just remembered who. Sol Wachtler. He was a member of the Court of Appeals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Wachtler
Yes, that’s him. Thanks.
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