Richter reveals twist in cannabis bribery case

The verdict of Jasiel Correia, former Mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts, convicted of accepting cannabis bribes, took a shocking turn today as the judge dismissed eight of the 21 counts on which Correia has already been convicted was.

The former Mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts is still expected to serve a heavy sentence for the cannabis bribery convictions.

However, none of these dismissed convictions were related to cannabis bribery.

It was a somewhat confusing turn in what was already a complex case. The upshot, however, is that most observers expect the former mayor to be sentenced to prison for extorting payments for cannabis licenses. Correia’s judgment hearing is scheduled to close tomorrow at 11 a.m. EST.

Tried two cases as one

In late 2015, a young entrepreneur named Jasiel Correia became America’s youngest mayor by getting a huge number of votes in the race for the corner office in Fall River. The 23-year-old came to the office of the former textile factory town, which was in need, with great plans and high hopes.

His political honeymoon didn’t last long. Within two years, federal officials arrested Correia and charged him with wire transfer and tax fraud related to an alleged investor fraud scheme for one of its startup companies, a software company called SnoOwl.

It was getting worse and worse. Less than a year later, Correia was arrested again, this time on charges of federal blackmail over an alleged scheme to collect bribes from legal cannabis companies trying to set up shop in Fall River.

The alleged pay-for-play system was made possible by the Massachusetts Host Community Agreements (HCAs). These are essentially permits that local cities give to cannabis entrepreneurs who want to settle there. Without an HCA, government officials will not license a legal cannabis business.

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Tried two separate cases as one

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office merged both cases in a single proceeding. Correia’s lawyers requested that the cases be split into separate proceedings, but that request was denied. In May 2021, a jury convicted Correia in several cases of transfer fraud, tax evasion and extortion in connection with the SnoOwl fraud and the cannabis HCA program.

Today’s verdict should lead Correia to a prison sentence in federal prison. Instead, Federal Judge Douglas P. Woodlock dismissed a number of convictions for remittance and tax fraud. Woodlock said the evidence presented in the process did not meet the legal definition of wire transfer fraud and tax fraud.

What about cannabis bribery?

In the afternoon, Woodlock and Correia’s legal team exchanged arguments about Correia’s remaining extortion convictions for bribing cannabis licenses.

The argument for rejecting extortion essentially boils down to the idea of ​​a depraved subject. The federal prosecutor painted Jasiel Correia as a young man who is overwhelmed by greed and lust for power. The government argued that the alleged fraud in the SnoOwl case and the bribery of the cannabis license arose out of Correia’s corrupt ambitions.

After SnoOwl’s convictions were dismissed, Correia’s lawyers argued that the evidence presented in the software portion of the case had unjustified the jury against Correia and made the witness against him more likely to believe in the bribery counts.

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Richter sees license bribery grim

Judge Woodlock didn’t buy that argument.

“I don’t see any real innocence in this case,” he said, referring to Correia’s “use of his position to extort money and” [establish] a bribery system in the City of Fall River. ”

“I don’t see any real innocence in this case,” said the judge. That doesn’t bode well for the former mayor.

Woodlock refused to overturn Correia’s extortion convictions. In fact, the judge indicated that he would impose a heavy sentence on these charges. “In this case, this is what crosses my mind: The career path of someone who may have been very greedy and immature, someone who was chief executive officer of a major city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Woodlock.

The judge stated that he found it significant that Correia “did not become more humble after the SnoOwl indictment was brought in 2018. He became more susceptible to fraud. ”

“I want to make it clear that I’ve thought about it a lot,” said Woodlock. His main concern, added the judge, is “to find the right way to justify the public interest in this place”.

Correia’s verdict hearing is due to close tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Judge Woodlock’s courtroom in Boston.

Bruce Barcott

Leafly Senior Editor Bruce Barcott oversees news, research, and feature projects. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America.

View article by Bruce Barcott

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