Cincinnati Ex-Councilman’s Convictions Should Be Thrown Out, Legal Scholar Says

A former Ohio politician is seeking to have his two federal corruption-related convictions thrown out—a challenge that ought to prevail, according to a legal scholar who has followed the case closely.
Lawyers for Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati city council member who was convicted in July of bribery and attempted extortion, filed motions for acquittal and a new trial on Sept. 30 in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.
Ken Katkin, professor of law at Northern Kentucky University. (Courtesy of Northern Kentucky University Chase School of Law)
While such post-trial motions are common, they rarely succeed. But Ken Katkin, a professor of law at Northern Kentucky University near Cincinnati, opined that Sittenfeld’s main argument is valid….