(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/22/2023) A federal judge declined to dismiss the criminal case against former Rep. Larry Inman, who is accused of soliciting a bribe in the form of a campaign contribution for a vote on repealing prevailing wage in 2018.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker’s Thursday opinion and order neither agreed nor disagreed with the defense’s argument that the government won’t be able to produce evidence on whether Inman’s alleged conduct is “unseemly, but constitutionally protected campaign activities” or attempted extortion and solicitation of a bribe.
“There may be some force to this argument, but now is not the proper time to consider it,” Jonker wrote.
Jonker’s order means Inman will face a second trial.
In December 2019, a federal jury acquitted Inman of making a false statement to the FBI, but it could not reach a verdict on the extortion or bribery charges.
Jonker earlier dismissed those charges, but the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision.
Federal prosecutors allege Inman tried to sell his vote on repealing the state’s prevailing wage law while Inman maintains he is innocent.
During that first trial, Inman, a three-term House member from 2015 to 2020, testified about a long history of abusing prescription pain medications.
Inman’s defense attorney wants the jury to hear testimony on Inman’s “diminished capacity,” but the government said his drug use is inadmissible. The government also doesn’t want the jury to hear that Inman was acquitted of lying to the FBI or that it hung on the remaining charges.
Jonker dismissed that request as moot, saying he would handle issues on a case-by-case basis.
Jonker sided with the government on its request to exclude testimony from a defense expert, who was expected to testify about Inman’s mental state or condition and he said Inman’s diagnoses or treatment after the prevailing vote and indictment are not relevant.
“On the other hand, the observations of people who saw and interacted with defendant Inman during the leadup to the prevailing wage vote – when the text messages central to the case were sent – and defendant’s own accounts of his behavior at the time (if he chooses to testify) are admissible in the court’s view,” Jonker wrote.
The text messages, sent to lobbyists for the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, included one that read: "We only have 12 people to block it. You said all 12 will get $30,000 each to help there (sic) campaigns … I have heard most got $5,000, not $30,000." A separate text noted, “People will not go down for $5,000”.
Inman faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted as charged.
