Former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell was spared prison on Monday when the US supreme court unanimously overturned his conviction for corruption.
McDonnell, once a rising star of the Republican party, and his wife had been found guilty in 2014 of taking $175,000 in gifts and loans from a businessman in return for promoting his company’s dietary supplement.
In a trial that also exposed the couple’s financial and marital strife, McDonnell was sentenced to two years behind bars but allowed to remain free while the justices weighed his appeal.
On Monday they ruled that the jury received faulty instructions about what constitutes bribery under federal law. The decision will narrow the scope of a law that bars public officials from taking gifts in exchange for “official action”, potentially making it harder to prosecute such cases in future.
“There is no doubt that this case is distasteful; it may be worse than that,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion. “But our concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns. It is instead with the broader legal implications of the government’s boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.
“A more limited interpretation of the term ‘official act’ leaves ample room for prosecuting corruption, while comporting with the text of the statute and the precedent of this court.”
Roberts said the law should not punish politicians for giving their constituents access to public officials who are willing to listen but do not actually exercise government power. Setting up a meeting, talking to another official or organising an event does not meet the definition of an “official act” under the law, he determined.
The supreme court took no position on whether prosecutors can try McDonnell again. The case now returns to lower courts to decide that question.
McDonnell issued a statement expressing his “heartfelt gratitude” to the justices following the ruling.
“From the outset, I strongly asserted my innocence before God and under the law,” he said. “I have not, and would not, betray the sacred trust the people of Virginia bestowed upon me during 22 years in elected office.”
The former governor’s legal team also welcomed Monday’s ruling. Hank Asbill, his lead trial counsel, said: “I’m ecstatic for my client. I was hopeful after the oral argument that the opinion would go this way but I wasn’t taking anything for granted.”
He added: “I think it sets a positive standard for future bribery cases and it’s good for people to know what the law is rather than not knowing.”
McDonnell, 62, a former army officer and state attorney general, served as Virginia governor from 2010 to 2014 after campaigning with the slogan “Bob’s for jobs” and presenting himself as a defender of family values. He was once tipped as a potential running mate for presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
But his fall from grace was dramatic. During a trial in Richmond, Virginia, prosecutors outlined an extravagant lifestyle that the McDonnells enjoyed thanks to gifts and sweetheart loans from Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie Williams. It included nearly $20,000 in designer clothing and accessories for McDonnell’s wife, Maureen; a $6,500 engraved Rolex watch, $15,000 in catering for their daughter’s wedding; and free family holidays and golf trips for their boys. Williams also provided three loans totaling $120,000.
McDonnell, meanwhile, helped set up meetings for Williams with state health officials, appeared at promotional events and hosted a launch event for the dietary supplement at the governor’s mansion. Williams was seeking state money and the credibility of Virginia’s universities to perform clinical research that would support his company’s drug.
McDonnell’s defence contended that the court had used an overly broad definition of bribery, punishing the type of actions that many elected officials carry out on behalf of constituents. They argued that McDonnell merely performed routine courtesies for Williams such as setting up meetings and hosting events.
They also claimed that McDonnell could not have conspired with his wife because by then their marriage had fallen apart. Even so, McDonnell was convicted of 11 corruption counts, upheld by the fourth US circuit court of appeals last July.
On Monday, however, that ruling was overturned by the highest court in the land. Roberts wrote: “Because the jury was not correctly instructed on the meaning of ‘official act’, it may have convicted Governor McDonnell for conduct that is not unlawful. For that reason, we cannot conclude that the errors in the jury instructions were ‘harmless beyond a reasonable doubt’.”
Numerous former White House and state attorneys had warned the supreme court that, if it upheld McDonnell’s conviction, it would represent a “breathtaking expansion” of public corruption law and have a chilling effect on officials’ interactions with constituents, leaving them open to potential prosecution over benefits routinely given to donors.
Maureen McDonnell had also been convicted of corruption and sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Her case was not before the supreme court. Her attorney, William Burck, told the Associated Press that the ruling “requires that her conviction immediately be tossed out as well”.
