Supreme Irony
Just as the N.C. General Assembly is getting ready to loot millions of dollars in lottery money from counties around the state, former state lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings snags an early release from prison, courtesy of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on so-called “honest services” fraud charges.
The Raleigh N&O lays out the details here:
Geddings had argued that the honest services statute didn’t cover conflicts of interest, but that a bribe or kickback had to be shown for the law to be violated.
That’s exactly what the justices decided in a different case last week, prompting an immediate review of Geddings’ conviction. Geddings, who had moved to Florida from Charlotte as his case unfolded, has been in a prison in southern Georgia since July 2007 and was due to move to a halfway house within months, according to his lawyer. His release date was set for Dec. 24.
“As a result of this ruling,” prosecutors said in their filing Tuesday, “it is no longer a federal crime for state public officials to corrupt their public offices by engaging in undisclosed self-dealing.”
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