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NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on an appeals court overturning the corruption conviction of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (all times local):
11:10 a.m.
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (bahr-AHR'-ah) is defending his prosecution of ex-New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver after Silver's conviction was reversed.
The prosecutor fired earlier this year by President Donald Trump's administration after he refused to resign says the evidence of public corruption against Silver was strong. He says he thinks the 73-year-old Democrat will be convicted again.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim has said prosecutors will retry Silver.
Bharara shared his opinion about the Silver case on Twitter after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the conviction Thursday.
The appeals court said the evidence against Silver was sufficient, but instructions on the law given to the jury were not consistent with a Supreme Court ruling in another case that came out after the Silver verdict.
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10:40 a.m.
An acting U.S. attorney says prosecutors will retry former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on corruption charges.
Joon H. Kim issued a statement Thursday shortly after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan released a decision finding that the legal instructions given to the jury at Silver's 2015 trial were not consistent with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Kim said the 2nd Circuit found that the evidence at trial was sufficient to prove crimes charged against the 73-year-old Democrat, even under a new legal standard described by the high court when it reversed the conviction of Virginia Republican ex-Gov. Bob McDonnell.
Kim said that although justice will be delayed, prosecutors do not expect justice to be denied.
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9:50 a.m.
A federal appeals court has overturned the corruption conviction of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came Thursday.
The Democrat was sentenced last year to 12 years in prison after he was convicted of collecting $4 million in kickbacks from a cancer researcher and real estate developers in return for using his powerful post to help them. He has not had to report to prison while he awaited the outcome of his appeal.
The appeals court said the judge's instructions on the law were not consistent with a recent Supreme Court ruling.
The Supreme Court recently reversed the conviction of Virginia Republican ex-Gov. Bob McDonnell. It raised the standards prosecutors must use when they accuse public officials of wrongdoing.
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