Defense lawyers for former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and finance chief Ryan Wannemacher asked U.S. District Judge Brian Davis on Monday to dismiss the grand jury indictment against them on conspiracy and wire fraud.
Wannemacher's lawyers are working on an additional motion asking Davis to sever their cases — meaning both men would be tried separately rather than in the same trial — while Zahn's attorneys have said they were looking into other issues, like asking Davis to move the trial outside of Jacksonville because of the publicity Zahn's JEA downfall generated.
The plan was scrapped, and the JEA board ultimately canceled the privatization effort amid a series of controversies — firing Zahn weeks later. The motion accuses the prosecution of using the mail fraud and conspiracy charges to"mimic" an honest-services fraud case — a law federal prosecutors had used for decades to target public corruption until it was largely voided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court found the honest-services fraud statute criminalized too much vague behavior and said prosecutors could only properly charge politicians for more narrowly defined wrongdoing, like theft of money or property.
"A public employee’s breach of his or her fiduciary duty cannot give rise to an honest services violation in the absence of a bribe or kickback, neither of which is alleged here," the motion said.
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