NEW YORK: Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Guilty Of Corruption At Retrial Forced By SCOTUS Ruling

The New York Daily News reports:

Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted Friday of corruption charges in his Manhattan Federal Court retrial. The venerable politician’s second trial ended with the jury returning its guilty verdicts on all counts shortly before 5 p.m. in only its second day of deliberations.

Silver was originally convicted in November 2015 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. But the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2016 altered the rules for instructing juries about political corruption laws — leading an appeals court to overturn Silver’s conviction last July.

The retrial took just two weeks with prosecutors demonstrating how the 74-year Silver collected nearly $4 million in illicit payoffs. Silver spent more than 20 years as the state Assembly speaker, making him one of New York’s three most powerful politicians.