PG Sittenfeld loses bid to remain free during appeal. He will report to prison Jan. 2
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Former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld will begin serving a 16-month prison sentence on Jan. 2, after a federal appeals court said it will not allow him to remain free while his appeal is pending.
In a ruling filed Thursday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Sittenfeld's request to remain out of prison while the court considers his appeal.
Sittenfeld was convicted in July 2022 in federal court in Cincinnati on charges of bribery and attempted extortion. The 16-month sentence wasn't imposed until October of this year.
At that sentencing, U.S. District Judge Douglas Cole said Sittenfeld could wait until Friday to report to prison. Then this week, after a request by Sittenfeld's attorneys, Cole extended the report date to Jan. 2.
In its ruling, the 6th Circuit said Sittenfeld had to show his appeal raised "a substantial question of law or fact" that likely would result in his conviction being overturned.
The court said he hadn't done that.
Attorneys for Sittenfeld, who was convicted of accepting $20,000 in campaign contributions in exchange for supporting a development project, had argued that bribery or extortion requires proof of an unambiguously corrupt bargain.
The 6th Circuit disagreed.
"We have repeatedly recognized that a defendant's intention to enter into a corrupt bargain will turn otherwise innocent political conduct into a crime," the court's ruling says.
The three-judge panel consisted of two judges appointed by Republican presidents and one by a Democratic president. The ruling was unanimous.
U.S. Circuit Judge Eric Clay was appointed by former President Bill Clinton. U.S. Circuit Judge Julia Smith Gibbons was appointed by former president George W. Bush. And U.S. Circuit Judge Joan Larsen was appointed by former president Donald Trump.
Sittenfeld, 39, will serve his sentence at a federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 6th Circuit: PG Sittenfeld must go to prison while appeal is pending
