A.G. Gancarski
Motions were filed Thursday in the 14-count federal trial of state Rep. Reggie Fullwood to prohibit prosecutors from contending the Jacksonville Democrat defrauded the state Division of Elections in his 10 wire fraud counts.
Fullwood requested and received a bill of particulars from the feds, who maintained Fullwood defrauded campaign contributors and the Division of Elections.
Fullwood contends that asserting that “the Florida Department of State Division of Elections as one of the two victims of the alleged wire fraud … is wholly inconsistent with controlling legal authority.”
The motion does not seek to repress “evidence [prosecutors] may have of the Defendant’s handling of campaign funds and the reportage thereof as required by Florida election law,” but does attempt to undermine the assertion that the Division of Elections was defrauded, as “mail and wire fraud statutes are limited to the protection of money and property,” which weren’t in play from the governmental side.
Government, in this case, has no property interest to be protected, claims Fullwood.
“The Defendant’s pretrial efforts, including this Motion, have been an effort to identify and clarify what the Government is really charging here so as to better illuminate what the Defendant believes are deficiencies in the Government’s theory. In turn, that is expected to form a predicate for a Motion to Dismiss addressing the viability and sufficiency of the wire fraud counts charged in the Indictment,” Fullwood asserts in the motion.
Fullwood has maintained the charges are trumped up. If found guilty of all counts, he could face 204 years in prison. This motion is another attempt to erode the credibility of the charges, a gambit upon which his political future is predicated.
If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of his 10 counts of wire fraud and a year for each of four counts of failing to file federal tax returns.
