James Botti was indicted with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bribery, and mail fraud under 18 USC §§ 1341 and 1346. The jury convicted Botti of mail fraud but hung on the conspiracy and bribery counts. Botti was scheduled to be sentenced for the mail fraud conviction on September 17, 2010. In light of the Skilling decision, District Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. ordered both sides to submit briefs and provide additional argument on Botti’s post trial motions.
Argument: On September 8, 2010, Judge Haight denied both Botti’s Motion for Judgment of Acquital and Motion for a New Trial. On September 17, 2010, Judge Haight sentenced Botti to six years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Botti was ordered to report to prison on November 29, 2011.
Botti appealed both the denial of the Motion for Acquittal and the Motion for a New Trial. On March 28, 2013, the Second Circuit affirmed the decision of the district court. The Court held that plain error review applied to claim that instruction on honest services mail fraud allowed jury to find defendant guilty without finding a bribery or kickback scheme. The district court’s instruction was plain error, but didn’t affect defendant’s substantial rights or the fairness of the judicial proceedings. While the jury instruction was error, the case was not reversed because bribery was the only theory of honest services mail fraud presented to the jury.
In August 2014, Botti was transferred from a minimum security prison in West Virginia to a residential reentry center. Botti will be released in February 2015 and will then be on probation for three years.