Jasiel Correia's attorneys have filed his appeal, and they say 'a new trial is necessary'

BOSTON — With just minutes before the deadline, former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia II’s attorneys filed an appellate brief Wednesday with the First Circuit Court of Appeals on his conviction for fraud and government corruption, with his attorneys arguing that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of defrauding SnoOwl investors or that he extorted money from marijuana vendors.

As they have requested in the federal District Court previously, Correia’s appellate attorneys, Daniel Marx and William Fick, asked the appeals court to either vacate the 30-year-old former mayor’s conviction or grant him a new trial.

Legal experts say it could take months before the appellate court makes a ruling on Correia’s appeal.

But in the coming week, eyes will be on federal District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock by Correia court-watchers, to see if the veteran jurist will grant Correia a seventh temporary stay from prison or rule on whether or not he’ll grant a permanent stay pending the conclusion of his appeal.

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Sixth time the charm? Will he self-surrender next week?

For now, Correia is due to self-surrender to a Berlin, New Hampshire, federal prison on April 5 to serve out a six-year sentence. He was originally ordered to report on Dec. 3; however, Woodlock has postponed Correia’s reporting to prison numerous times at his attorneys’ request.

The first was to give him an opportunity to help out in his in-laws' restaurant and function hall, the Towne House, over the Christmas holidays. Woodlock then granted more delays related to extensions of Correia’s appeal filings.

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A number of sources say Correia and his wife, Jenny, whom he married in August and a month before his sentencing, no longer work at the high-end Purchase Street establishment.

Last May, a jury convicted Correia of nine counts of wire fraud, four counts of filing false tax returns, four counts of extortion conspiracy and four counts of extortion.

Just before the sentencing in September, Woodlock dismissed six counts of wire fraud and four counts of filing false tax returns in the SnoOwl portion of his case, where he was accused of bilking investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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Not enough evidence and spillover prejudice at trial

In their 221-page appellate brief, Marx and Fick also argued that the government’s prosecution team failed to prove that Correia conspired with his co-conspirators to shake down the marijuana vendors looking to do business in the city.

In Correia's trial, several witnesses testified that Correia sold them on SnoOwl by telling them he'd successfully developed and sold an app in college. Fick and Marx claim that "vague comments by Mr. Correia about his prior app were business puffery, not criminal fraud."

They also contend that trying the fraud case and the government corruption case together unfairly prejudiced the jury in their deliberations.

“Alternatively, a new trial is necessary, because given the District Court’s post-trial decision to enter judgment of acquittal on most of the wire fraud charges and all the tax fraud charges, spillover prejudice from the extensive, irrelevant evidence on those 10 now-vacated counts likely tainted the jury’s verdicts on the 11 remaining counts," wrote Correia’s attorneys.

Critical of judge’s jury instructions and prosecutors use of video

Additionally, the brief is critical of Woodlock’s jury instructions and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary Hafer and David Tobin for showing a video of a mayoral debate between Correia, 23 at the time, and then incumbent Mayor Sam Sutter who attacked the fledgling candidate for his SnoOwl business dealings.

They argue the video of the debate painted Correia “as 'the type of person' who would commit all the charged crimes, and inviting the jury to vindicate 'the voters' of Fall River by convicting Mr. Correia.”

Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Jasiel Correia files appeal, asking for new trial in fraud case