NEW YORK _ A federal appeals court judge in Manhattan has put former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's scheduled Oct. 5 surrender date on his corruption conviction on hold pending a decision on the ex-speaker's motion for bail pending appeal.
Silver, 74, was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $1.75 million by Manhattan U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni on July 30 after being convicted of taking bribes disguised as legal fees in return for favors for a mesothelioma researcher and developers.
In a brief order issued Tuesday morning, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Peter Hall said Silver's scheduled surrender to start serving time should be stayed while his request for bail during a planned appeal is being decided.
Hall also referred the request for bail pending to the court's "next available motions panel," and said the surrender date would be stayed until that panel rules. He didn't express any view on the merits of the appeal or whether bail should be granted.
In 2016, Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison after first being convicted of the same charges. But he remained out on bail while he appealed, and that conviction was later reversed by the 2nd Circuit.
He was convicted by another jury in May after a retrial. Caproni recommended he serve his time at the federal prison facility in Otisville, N.Y., but it is not known whether the federal Bureau of Prisons will follow that recommendation.
