The still-guilty Skeloses

T

hree federal judges have concurred with 12 citizens of the jury that former state Senate chief Dean Skelos and his bum of a son Adam were indeed guilty of eight counts of bribery, extortion and corruption. However, the appeal judges ruled that the Skeli should have another trial because a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling — the one clearing Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell last year — changed the standard in public corruption cases for an “official act.”

That happened after the twosome were tried and convicted in 2015 by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Bharara’s No. 2, Joon Kim, now in charge, will try — and hopefully convict — the pair again. It’s very do-able, even with the new standard. Prosecutors proved that Dean squeezed money for Adam from the Glenwood real estate company while Dean was handling a bill vital to the firm.

They proved that Dean bullied a storm water company to give Adam cash in exchange for greasing a Nassau County contract.

They proved that Dean forced an insurer to hand Adam a full-time no-show job just as he was controlling legislation crucial to the insurer.

In their unanimous ruling, the appeals panel reviewed the evidence presented at trial and found that prosecutors established the necessary quid pro quo in all three scams — with evidence “more than sufficient to pass this test” of a guilty verdict.

The forced do-over is similar to what an earlier appeals panel ruled in ordering a mulligan for Shelly Silver. Each time the appeals judges examined the underlying charges, and found both times that the juries made no error.

A technicality — jury instructions that, in retrospect, were incorrect — need not invalidate a crucial win for cleaner government. Justice willing, it will not.