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U.S. v. Selby (9th Cir. - Jan. 15, 2009)

By Shaun Martin

If I'm a federal official who gets my spouse a job with a government contractor and then helps work flow that way, once the jury comes back and convicts me of (1) honest services wire fraud, (2) making false claims and statements, and (3) felony conflict of interest, I'm probably going to be freaking out. Thereafter, however, when the district court's sentence is merely five years of probation, trust me that I'm going to be dancing in the street. Unless I've got infinite money, I'm not going to hire an attorney to pursue an appeal -- especially if my only argument is insufficient evidence. Which I'm going to lose anyway.

Sometimes, even when you're convinced your innocent, you need to take a larger view. And be happy -- extremely so -- for the bullet you dodged rather than the one that grazed you.

Full post as published by California Appellate Report on January 22, 2009 (boomark / email).