And the farce goes on: Sheldon Silver has launched yet another federal appeal, with strong hopes of staying out of prison until sometime next year.
First convicted in November 2015 — for bribery, money laundering and extortion, among other crimes — the former speaker of the Assembly got that tossed in 2017, only to be convicted again in a second trial in May 2018.
Then another appeal kept him out of the hoosegow. And last month, three judges of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated three of the seven “guilty” counts — but Silver’s now asking the full Second Circuit to take up the case and toss the last four counts, which center on real-estate kickbacks.
The full court is unlikely to agree, since three of its members were unanimous on the issues Silver hopes to contest — but the denial might not come for months. And then he’ll surely ask the US Supreme Court to jump in, giving him months more freedom.
All the while, he has collected a pension of $6,600 a month from New York’s taxpayers — as he will even when (if?) he finally heads to prison.
Silver “collected millions of dollars by cashing in on his public office and political influence,” as then-US Attorney Preet Bharara noted at the time. Yet he’s managed to escape justice for more than five years since his arrest. At 76, he stands a good chance of dying before he ever enters prison.
Bharara’s successors need to push the courts to expedite every remaining conceivable appeal: Shelly Silver’s success in remaining free has made a mockery of justice.