Corrine Brown
wants to be free now as she appeals her sentence on tax and fraud charge. Prosecutors, of course, think differently.
Federal prosecutors are opposing former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s bid to remain free while appealing her conviction on fraud and tax crimes.
In a motion filed Sunday, prosecutors assert Brown’s request “is without merit and should be denied.”
U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan sentenced Brown to five years in federal prison on Dec. 4. Corrigan ordered Brown, 71, to report to prison no earlier than Jan. 8. The federal Bureau of Prisons will tell her when and where to report.
Brown’s attorney then filed a motion to remain free on bond pending the outcome of her appeal.
The sole issue cited in that motion is Corrigan’s dismissal of a juror who professed during deliberations that the “Holy Spirit” revealed to him that Brown was innocent of the charges she was facing.
Corrigan previously denied Brown’s request for a new trial, which also was based on the juror’s dismissal.
Prosecutors, in their motion, said Brown is incorrect in her claim that the juror’s dismissal raises a substantial question on appeal warranting her release now.
She should be denied bond and ordered into the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, according to their motion.
The decision to dismiss the juror, prosecutors said, “was based on well-settled law and should be affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. This is not a close question,” their motion states.
“In the absence of such a question, Corrine Brown should be imprisoned during the pendency of her appeal,” according to the prosecutors’ motion.
“As to the law, it is beyond dispute that a trial court can (and should) remove a juror based on findings that the juror has failed to follow, and is unable to follow, the court’s lawful instructions,” prosecutors also said in their motion.
Brown must convince the court that she isn’t likely to flee or endanger the public, and that her appeal raises a substantial legal issue that could result in a new trial or a sentence.
Her attorney, James Smith, has argued that there is no controlling precedent in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the legal issue they plan to argue, which “raises the likelihood” that the court would accept her argument for a new trial.
No date has been set for the court to consider the motion, records showed Sunday.
Brown, a former 12-term congresswoman, was convicted in November on 18 felony counts that included raising roughly $800,000 for a sham charity called One Door for Education, which she used as a personal slush fund.
Little of the money raised was used for charitable purposes. Instead, the money was used to hold parties and other lavish events in Brown’s honor and also padded her personal bank account, prosecutors said.