Jasiel Correia's appeal denied. Here's why judges rejected the ex-mayor's arguments.

Looks like former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia II will remain behind bars until at least 2027, now that he has lost his appeal before the 1st U.S. Court of Appeals.

“The record reveals that the defendant was fairly tried and lawfully convicted by an impartial jury in a trial presided over by an able judge and unblemished by any reversible error. For the reasons elucidated above, the judgment of the district court is affirmed,” wrote the three-judge panel.

Correia, who reported to prison in Berlin, New Hampshire, in April to begin a six-year sentence for fraud and corruption, had his virtual day in court in late September, as federal appellate judges Sandra L. Lynch, Bruce Selya and Jeffrey R. Howard heard arguments on why he should have his convictions overturned or receive a new trial. In May 2021, Correia, once the city's youngest mayor, had been convicted of defrauding investors in his app company, SnoOwl, and shaking down marijuana vendors hoping to open up shop in Fall River.

The 82-page opinion was released Monday afternoon, two months after Correia and his team of lawyers argued that among a host of arguments, that trying Correia on both the SnoOwl case where he bilked investors out of nearly $300,000, and the government extortion case, was prejudicial.

Correia’s appellate attorney, Daniel Marx, argued it was not a discerning verdict, that insufficient evidence had been presented and claimed prosecutors had "prejudiced" the jury against his client.

Tracing Jasiel Correia's fall: From entrepreneur & mayor, to convicted corruption kingpin

What the judges said

The opinion first takes up Correia’s claim that there was insufficient evidence to support the three remaining wire fraud convictions that federal District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock allowed to stand after the month-long trial that wrapped up in May 2021.

At sentencing, Woodlock tossed out eight wire and tax fraud charges against Correia.

The appellate judges surmised that Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary Hafer and David Tobin presented evidence that showed Correia had fraudulently misrepresented information to investors regarding SnoOwl, including his false contention he’d sold another app company while in college.

His lawyers, William Fick and Daniel Marx, argued that even if Correia gave false information to investors it wasn’t “material.”

"The defendant attempts to sidestep the force of this evidence," Selya wrote. "He argues that he did not use false or fraudulent pretenses because his representations were, variously, puffery, true, or never uttered. And even if thestatements were made and were false, the defendant says, they were not material. This rebuttal is all foam and no beer."

'Smoke and mirrors'

Regarding the government corruption case against Correia, where he was convicted of attempting to extort four men looking to open marijuana businesses in Fall River, the court rejected the former mayor’s notion that his co-conspirator and city businessman David Hebert acted alone when he took money from a would-be cannabis vendor who was a personal friend, Matthew Pichette.

“This is smoke and mirrors,” according to the appellate opinion on Correia’s contention that no money was exchanged until after Pichette received a letter of non-opposition from the then-mayor, required for to move on to seeking state licensing.

Issues of prosecutorial misconduct and prejudicial spillover

Much had been made after the trial that the two issues against Correia — the SnoOwl fraud and government extortion and conspiracy — should not have been heard by a jury in the same trial and cause unfair prejudice against the former mayor.

The appellate judges ruled that the jury was able to “compartmentalize” the charges in the differing cases.

"We discern no abuse of discretion in the district court's determination that the threat of prejudicial spillover did not require a new trial," the opinion states, noting the defendant "did not seek severance" — that is, splitting the trial into two parts — and credits the district court with doing "a yeoman's work" in preventing unfair prejudice.

"That verdict is strong evidence that the jurors fully understood that their decision on one count was separate and distinct from their decisions on the other counts," the opinion states. Jurors found Correia guilty of 21 of 24 counts, after four days of deliberation — the verdict slip, Selya noted, required that the jury make determination of guilt or innocence on each of the 24 charges.

What about the video clip from the 2015 debate?

Another of Correia's arguments centered on a video clip from a 2015 mayoral debate with Sam Sutter — in which Correia claimed his app company SnoOwl had made money for investors — which prosecutors presented during closing arguments; Correia's lawyers argued that it prejudiced the jury against him.

In a heated exchange between the candidates, Sutter accused Correia of running a scam with SnoOwl, with Correia arguing that the incumbent lacked business expertise.

"To be sure, statements made in the heat of a political campaign cannot and should not always be taken literally," Selya wrote, noting that the clip was presented three times, and the defense made no objections all three times. "That does not mean, though, that the campaigner is entitled to a free pass."

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What this means for Correia

The judge noted "the swiftness of the defendant's rise was matched by the swiftness of his fall," as Correia was the city's youngest mayor.

A young man full of ambition but with no political experience, Correia captured the public’s attention like few before him, swept into public office and soared to the sixth floor of Government Center in record time — and in record time, Fall River voters booted him from the mayor’s office with a federal corruption scandal nipping at his heels. All that, in a little more than half a decade.

In May 2021, the jury convicted Correia of 21 counts of defrauding investors in the SnoOwl app before he was elected mayor, tax fraud related to SnoOwl, and political corruption by extorting marijuana businessmen during his two terms as mayor from 2016 to 2020.

However, before sentencing in September 2021, federal District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock threw out 10 of the guilty verdicts related to the SnoOwl case, on the grounds that prosecutors had provided insufficient evidence to prove those charges.

Correia's sentence is 2,190 days. If he stays out of trouble, he can earn a maximum of 324 days of good time credits, cutting his time down to 1,866 days — or, a little over five years and one month. He reported to prison in April, so he could be out by May 2027.

Somerset attorney weighs in

“It was a complicated case that resulted in an 82-page decision,” said Somerset attorney Steven Sabra. “They addressed every issue that was raised by the defense in a substantive way in the decision, but rejected their arguments.”

Correia does have one more avenue of recourse: an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sabra doubts Correia would be successful in the country’s highest court.

“They only take cases in their discretion and, of course, there is no right to appeal in the Supreme Court,” said Sabra. “So, they would have felt there was some major issue that they wanted to take up in the case, or there was some type of conflict in the federal circuit court of appeals that they may feel they want to resolve.”

“I think this is highly unlikely they would take up this case,” said Sabra.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Ex-Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia's fraud, corruption appeal denied