Appeals court tosses ex-Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry's conviction for lying to FBI
CBSN
A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out the conviction of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska for lying to the FBI about illegal contributions made to his reelection campaign, determining that he was tried in the wrong venue.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said in an opinion that Fortenberry should have been tried in Nebraska or Washington, D.C., where he made the alleged false statements to investigators and not in California, where his trial was held.
"Fortenberry's trial took place in a state where no charged crime was committed, and before a jury drawn from the vicinage of the federal agencies that investigated the defendant. The Constitution does not permit this. Fortenberry's convictions are reversed so that he may be retried, if at all, in a proper venue," U.S. District Judge James Donato wrote in a 23-page opinion.
