U.S. judge postpones sentencing of former Connecticut Governor Rowland

[January 06, 2015]  By Richard Weizel
 
 NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Monday agreed to postpone the sentencing of former Connecticut Governor John Rowland, who was convicted last year of violating campaign laws by taking payments from a business owned by the husband of a candidate he advised.

Rowland, a Republican, was convicted in September of seven criminal counts including falsifying records in a federal investigation, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. He had been due to be sentenced on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Janet Arternon on Monday agreed to a request by Rowland's lawyer, Reid Weingarten, to delay the sentencing. Weingarten said in a letter to Arternon filed with the court on Friday that prosecutors failed to turn over key evidence involving the 2012 congressional campaign of Lisa Wilson-Foley, who Rowland advised.

Arternon did not immediately set a new date to sentence Rowland, who resigned as governor a decade ago after admitting to taking gifts from people who did business with the state.
 

During Rowland's trial, prosecutors argued that Rowland negotiated a ruse deal to work for a nursing home company, Apple Health Care, owned by Wilson-Foley's husband, Brian Foley, which paid him $35,000 intended to compensate him for advising the campaign.

Prosecutors contended that the ruse was intended to hide Rowland's involvement in the campaign.

"Ms. Wilson-Foley informed the government prior to her plea that Mr. Foley ... had repeatedly reassured her that Mr. Rowland was performing legitimate work for Apple," Weingarten wrote in the letter seeking the delay.

Wilson-Foley's information, Weingarten wrote, is "entirely consistent with Mr. Rowland's theory of the case at trial: that there was no conspiracy and that any illicit intent was secreted in Mr. Foley's mind."

Foley was the star witness during Rowland's trial, and Weingarten said he would have called Wilson-Foley to testify had he known of this information.

Another Connecticut Republican congressional candidate, Mark Greenberg, testified during the trial that he had rejected a bid by Rowland to advise his 2010 candidacy.

Both Wilson-Foley and Greenberg lost their congressional bids.

Wilson-Foley and her husband pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the case last March and are scheduled to be sentenced later this month. The government has requested a 10-month prison term for Wilson-Foley and leniency for Foley.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Eric Walsh)

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