A federal judge in Boston on Monday acquitted former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia of several counts that he had been convicted of at trial.
He was acquitted on 8 counts: 6 counts of wire fraud and 2 counts of tax fraud.
Certainly a major, and presumably very unexpected, turn of events for prosecutors in their case against Correia.
After the defense challenged some of the counts he was convicted on, and the evidence supporting them.
Correia had been waiting to learn his sentence on 21 federal corruption and fraud counts when Judge Douglas Woodlock ruled for the acquittal on six counts stemming from the former mayor's SnoOwl app.
The judge noted that the government can appeal.
The hearing began with the judge taking up the motion for acquittal. The defense challenged wire fraud, tax fraud, and conspiracy counts.
On the wire fraud counts, the judge asked several questions about how checks are processed to support the charges.
Woodlock continued to hear arguments on motions into the afternoon. He indicated that the sentencing portion of the hearing would likely not happen until Tuesday morning.
Correia was accused of defrauding investors with his SnoOwl smartphone app and extorting potential marijuana vendors. Federal prosecutors were seeking a sentence for Correia of 11 years plus supervised release and to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The 29-year-old was convicted of nine counts of wire fraud, four counts of filing false tax returns, four counts of extortion conspiracy and four counts of extortion.
The prosecution's sentencing memorandum included victim impact statements saying his white-collar crime spree left a trail of destruction in its wake, and financial and emotional harm to investors, marijuana vendors and the citizens of Fall River.
Correia didn't testify during the trial, but he told reporters afterward that "the real truth will come out."
"If he is remorseful, sincerely remorseful, it probably will be on the lower end, something in the area of five or four years," NBC 10 legal analyst Mark Dana said. "If, however, he says nothing or says he's innocent -- which he has, right after the verdict to the media -- then he's got a problem because under those circumstances the court under the federal sentencing guidelines can give up to six, seven, eight years."
Correia's defense team painted a different picture when asking for leniency, detailing in their own sentencing memorandum how he recently got married and that his wife is at a sensitive reproductive time in her life and wants kids. They also called him essential in running their family restaurant.
Correia was the youngest mayor in Fall River's history when he took office in 2016 at the age of 23. He began a second term two years later.
Voters recalled Correia in 2019 following his initial indictment on 13 counts, but he was immediately re-elected on the same ballot because of how the recall election was structured.
Correia mounted a re-election campaign later that year, but ultimately suspended his campaign and took a leave of absence.