Third Circuit panel denies Wayne Bryant appeal

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has upheld the 2008 political-corruption conviction of former New Jersey Sen. Wayne Bryant, rejecting his contention that his due-process rights were violated and that there was not enough evidence to sustain the charges against him.

In a 44-page decision issued Thursday, the Third Circuit panel also upheld the conviction of Bryant's codefendant, R. Michael Gallagher, a former dean at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Gallagher was convicted of fraud and bribery charges for arranging a job at the school for Bryant in exchange for Bryant's support of legislation increasing the school's funding.

The job - for which Bryant did little or no work, according to testimony - carried a $35,000 salary. In exchange, prosecutors contend, Bryant helped steer nearly $10 million to the school over three years beginning in 2002.

At the time, Bryant, a Camden County Democrat, was chairman of the Senate's Budget and Appropriations Committee. He was elected to the Senate in 1995, and served for 13 years.

In filing an appeal, defense attorneys argued that there was not enough evidence to show a quid pro quo between Gallagher and Bryant.

But the panel wrote that "based on trial evidence, reasonable jurors could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Bryant and Gallagher had an agreement, even if implicit, that Bryant's salary, bonus, and pension eligibility would be given in exchange for his official actions to increase state funding" for the school of medicine.

Judges Anthony J. Scirica, Thomas L. Ambro, and Thomas I. Vanaskie also rejected several other arguments in sustaining the convictions, which a jury decided in November 2008.

These included arguments that Bryant and Gallagher were denied due process during the investigation, that the jury instruction on some of the charges was defective, and that there was not enough evidence for mail-fraud charges in connection with a pension-padding scheme for which Bryant was also convicted.

In addition to the job at the school, Bryant was convicted of trying to increase his state pension through a job at the Gloucester County Board of Social Services for which he did no work.

The appellate panel ruled that there was more than enough evidence to support the verdicts and that the challenges to the jury instruction were "strained" and lacked foundation.

Gallagher, 64, served an 18-month prison sentence. Bryant, 63, is serving a four-year sentence and awaiting a trial next year on new corruption charges.

In the pending case, Bryant, a lawyer, is charged with accepting $192,000 in legal fees from an attorney representing a developer who had three major projects in the early stages of development in New Jersey.

Authorities charge that neither Bryant nor his Camden County law firm did any legal work for the developer, and that the retainer - monthly installments over three years beginning in 2004 - was paid instead for Bryant's support of legislation favorable to the development projects.