In allowing Kohring's conviction to stand, U.S. District Judge John Sedwick admonished federal prosecutors, saying they had "no excuse" for failing to turn over important information to Kohring's defense as required by law. But, he added, he didn't believe it would have made a difference to the verdicts "in the context of the entire record."
The evidence, including videotapes of Kohring taking money from officials of the oil-field service company Veco, then offering to do their bidding in the Legislature, was overwhelming, he said.
Sedwick reached a similar conclusion earlier this year in the appeal of former House Speaker Pete Kott, an Eagle River Republican.
Sedwick allowed both Kott and Kohring, a Wasilla Republican, to remain free while appealing to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A similar issue involving the same prosecutors derailed the 2008 trial of then-U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens after a jury had found him guilty. The charges against Stevens were eventually dismissed by the Justice Department.
Kohring had sought dismissal of his charges or at least a new trial. He was convicted on three counts charging him with bribery, extortion and conspiracy and sentenced to 42 months in prison.
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