Local News in Brief : Official’s Conviction of Fraud Overturned
A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned the mail fraud conviction of a former Redondo Beach councilman accused of profiting from his role in getting a development proposal approved.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco threw out six mail fraud convictions against Walter L. Mitchell Jr., 41, who was found guilty in 1983 of improperly pushing for City Council approval to convert Redondo Beach’s largest apartment complex, Brookside Village, into condominiums. But the court let stand Mitchell’s conviction on a tax charge that he underestimated his 1980 income by more than $40,000.
A federal indictment charged that Mitchell, who allegedly received more than $100,000 in business contracts in exchange for his influence, had deprived “the citizens of the honest and loyal services of a public official.”
But the appeals court cited a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mail fraud convictions cannot be based on an intangible public “right to good government.” The court said officials could be convicted of mail fraud only if prosecutors proved that they deprived the government of money or property.
Mitchell was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1983 but was released a few months early for good behavior.
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