Supreme Court Vacates Ex-Virginia Governor?s Graft Conviction

[Stan In FL]

unanimous.  again.  the obama DoJ gets slapped down unaimously, AGAIN.  and, hell, he put two of these justicettes on the court - he couldn't even get their vote.

Supreme Court Vacates Ex-Virginia Governor?s Graft Conviction

WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court on Monday made it harder to prosecute public officials for corruption, unanimously vacating the conviction of Bob McDonnell, a former governor of Virginia.

?Setting up a meeting, calling another public official or hosting an event does not, standing alone, qualify as an ?official act,? ? Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the court.

Prosecutors may seek to retry Mr. McDonnell, but under a stricter standard.

?Because the jury was not correctly instructed on the meaning of ?official act,? it may have convicted Governor McDonnell for conduct that is not unlawful,? Chief Justice Roberts wrote. ?For that reason, we cannot conclude that the errors in the jury instructions were ?harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.? We accordingly vacate Governor McDonnell?s convictions.?

Linky

[Stan In FL]

the nbc news headline is dishonest:  "Former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell Spared from Prison Sentence".  his conviction was vacated, and sent back down to the court that ****ed it up in the first place with instructions to not **** it up again.  this headline makes it sound like he's still guilty, just not going to jail.