Corrine Brown in a 2010 photo at NASA. (NASA)
A divided federal appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the “Holy Spirit” told him Brown was not guilty.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
Brown’s appeal focused on whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan was justified in replacing the juror known as Juror 13 with an alternate because of the statement about the Holy Spirit.
By Gordon Byrd
May 7, 2021
TALLAHASSEE -(News Service of Florida) A divided federal appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the “Holy Spirit” told him Brown was not guilty.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
Brown’s appeal focused on whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan was justified in replacing the juror - known as Juror 13 - with an alternate because of the statement about the Holy Spirit.
TALLAHASSEE A divided federal appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the “Holy Spirit” told him Brown was not guilty.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
Brown’s appeal focused on whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan was justified in replacing the juror known as Juror 13 with an alternate because of the statement about the Holy Spirit.
COMMENTARY | The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, sharply divided along partisan lines, reversed the high-profile 2017 convictions of ex-U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown on fraud and tax crimes on Thursday, with the Republican majority finding the judge overseeing Brown s case wrongly dismissed a juror who believed the holy spirit had told him the former congresswoman was innocent. The court ordered a new trial, though it s not clear if prosecutors will pursue one.
It was, at first blush, an incredibly surprising development that the all-Republican, seven-judge majority six of whom were the most junior judges appointed by Donald J. Trump in the past four years sided with Brown, Jacksonville s most notorious Democrat. But the decision speaks to both the passions the case inflamed on the religious right and to the nine-lives luck of a devil-may-care former congresswoman who long ago forged an unholy alliance with Republicans throughout her decades in office.
Former Rep. Corrine Brown seen talking with the press in Tallahassee, Fla., in 2015.
TALLAHASSEE - A divided federal appeals court Thursday overturned the conviction of former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the “Holy Spirit” told him Brown was not guilty.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
Brown’s appeal focused on whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan was justified in replacing the juror - known as Juror 13 - with an alternate because of the statement about the Holy Spirit.