A judge told Jasiel Correia to report to prison. Will the appeals court let him stay free?

BOSTON — After exhausting seven extensions to stay out of prison from a lower federal court, convicted former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia II is asking the First Circuit Court of Appeals to grant him a permanent stay pending the appeal of his criminal corruption and fraud conviction. 

Defense attorneys Daniel Marx and William Fick filed the request late Monday, 10 days before Correia must self-surrender to the Federal Correctional Institution Berlin in New Hampshire to begin his six-year sentence. 

Correia’s lawyers in a 10-page motion noted that the 30-year-old former politician was found by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts not to be a flight risk. 

Marx and Fick also argued that his appeal on his May 2021 conviction “raises multiple, substantial questions of law and fact, each of which is likely to result in reversal or a new trial,” according to the defense's court filing. 

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The attorneys argue that the government failed to provide sufficient evidence at trial to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Correia defrauded investors in his app company, SnoOwl, founded before becoming an elected official, or that he shook down marijuana companies in exchange for the right to do business in Fall River. 

They also argue that federal court Judge Douglas Woodlock failed to give proper jury instructions and excluded key constitutional principles in his written instructions to the jury. 

As in the more than 200-page appeal, Correia’s lawyers were critical of federal prosecutors.  

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Fick and Marx argue that in prosecutors' closing argument, former U.S. Assistant Attorney Zachary Hafer and U.S. Assistant Attorney David Tobin violated Correia’s right to a fair trial when they presented the jury with a campaign video clip that prosecutors claimed showed Correia lied to voters. 

“All these issues raise substantial questions of law and fact, and if this Court rules in Mr. Correia’s favor on one or more of them, that decision would likely result in a reversal or new trial. Put another way, one cannot reasonably conclude, at this preliminary stage, that none of these issues raises any substantial question for this Court. Thus, for the foregoing reasons, this Court should order that Mr. Correia be permitted to remain on release pending disposition of this appeal,” wrote the defense attorneys. 

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Vacated charges should trigger new trial 

Correia was voted as the city’s youngest mayor at the age of 23 in 2015, beating out incumbent and former Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter. 

In May 2021, a jury found him guilty on 21 of 24 counts of lying on his income taxes, defrauding investors in his now-defunct company SnoOwl, and extorting potential marijuana vendors in exchange for coveted letters of non-opposition.  

During sentencing last September, Woodlock threw out 10 of the wire fraud and tax fraud convictions on grounds that prosecutors provided insufficient evidence for a conviction.     

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In the appeal to keep Correia free pending his appeal, Marx and Fick argued there was “spillover prejudice” from the 10 vacated counts of wire and tax fraud that affected his conviction on government corruption charges, which requires that the former mayor be granted a new trial on the remaining fraud and extortion convictions. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, neither a response from federal prosecutors nor a ruling from the First Circuit Court of Appeals was filed. 

Correia is scheduled to report to prison by noon on April 22 after Woodlock denied the former mayor’s request last week for a permanent stay pending his appeal. 

He was originally ordered to report to the Berlin, New Hampshire, facility on Dec. 6, but Woodlock granted seven temporary stays due to COVID conditions at the prison, Correia's pending appeal and, initially, to allow Correia to work in his in-laws' restaurant over the holidays. He is no longer employed at The Towne House on Purchase Street.

Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!