Congressman’s Bribery Conviction Overturned
A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned the bribery conviction of former Rep. Richard A. Tonry (D-La.), saying an Indian chief he paid $25,000 in an attempt to secure a bingo concession was not a public official under state law.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said prosecutors overextended the intent of Louisiana’s commercial bribery statute to win the racketeering case.
Tonry, 52, was sentenced in 1986 to five years in federal prison on bribery counts involving an exclusive contract he signed governing bingo games at the tribal reservation in St. Mary Parish.
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