Legal News

He Won?t Back Down: Nacchio Files Request for New Trial

By Ashby Jones

Say this much about Joe Nacchio: he doesn’t back down easily. The former Qwest CEO, convicted on insider trading charges in April of 2007, has made a motion for a new trial, arguing that prosecutors mischaracterized testimony from a key government witness. Click here for the motion, here for Dionne Searcey’s story in Friday’s WSJ.

Nacchio’s appellate attorney, Maureen Mahoney, declined comment. But in the filing, she draws upon testimony that former Qwest Chief Financial Officer Robin Szeliga gave recently during a Securities and Exchange Commission case related to the company’s financial problems. According to the filing, Szeliga’s SEC testimony indicates the prosecution’s interpretations of her trial testimony made to the jury were incorrect.

Since his conviction, it’s been a bit of a wild ride for Nacchio. Last year, a Tenth Circuit panel tossed out the conviction, saying the trial judge had wrongly excluded an expert witness. But last week, the full Tenth Circuit upheld his conviction. Nacchio’s attorneys have said they would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case.

Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison but has been out on bail while his lawyers fight the conviction. He has been ordered to report to a minimum-security federal prison in Minersville, Pa., on March 23 — a prospect that sits just fine with Cliff Stricklin, the lead prosecutor in the case, who now hangs his hat at Holland & Hart in Denver. “Joe Nacchio has had his case reviewed as much as any defendant and probably more,” said Cliff Stricklin. “It’s time for him to begin serving his sentence.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 06, 2009 (boomark / email).