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 The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is set to hear
the appeal of Rowland, who spent 10 months in prison after pleading
guilty in 2004 to charges arising from his acceptance of illegal
gifts while he was governor.
Rowland, a Republican who resigned as governor in 2004 amid the
prior investigation, was charged in a new federal case in 2014 for
what prosecutors called a scheme to deceive voters and violate
campaign finance laws.
A federal jury in New Haven found him guilty on charges of
conspiracy, falsification of records in a federal investigation,
causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election
Commission, and causing illegal campaign contributions.
Rowland, 58, was sentenced in March 2015 to 2-1/2 years in prison
but has been free on bail pending appeal.
 Prosecutors said Rowland, 58, negotiated a deal to work for a
nursing home company owned by Brian Foley to pay him $35,000 that
was intended to compensate him for advising the 2012 congressional
campaign of Foley's wife, Lisa Wilson-Foley.
The goal was to avoid linking the Republican candidate to Rowland,
prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Rowland also sought to advise another Republican
congressional candidate, Mark Greenberg, who testified that in 2010
he rejected Rowland's offer and a contract that would similarly
conceal the ex-governor's role.
Both Wilson-Foley and Greenberg lost their congressional bids.
In court papers filed with the appellate court, Rowland's lawyer,
Andrew Fish, argued the two contracts did not legally constitute
falsified documents.
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To criminalize them, Fish wrote, prosecutors sought an
"unprecedented expansion" of a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
passed after the Enron scandal, that prohibited corporate
document-shredding to hide financial wrongdoing.
Fish also argued that prosecutors failed to disclose that
Wilson-Foley told them during an interview she believed Rowland was
being hired for a real job with the nursing home.
Had the defense known, Fish said, Rowland likely would have called
Wilson-Foley as a witness.
Wilson-Foley and Foley both pleaded guilty to conspiring to make
illegal campaign contributions. Wilson-Foley was sentenced last year
to five months in prison, while Foley was sentenced to three months
in a halfway house.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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