Alaska Employment Law

The 9th Circuit has reversed Judge John Sedwick’s exclusionary ruling in the criminal prosecution of Juneau attorney, and State Representative, Bruce Weyhrauch.

We hold that 18 U.S.C. § 1346 establishes a uniform standard for “honest services” that governs every public official and that the government does not need to prove an independent violation of state law to sustain an honest services fraud conviction. Because the district court excluded the evidence based, in part, on its conclusion that the government had to prove that state law imposed an affirmative duty on Weyhrauch to disclose a conflict of interest, we reverse. The government did not appeal the district court’s ruling that the proffered evidence relates only to state law, and we express no opinion whether the proffered evidence is relevant to proving the government’s case under the standard we have announced and leave that determination to the district court’s sound judgment.

U. S. v. Weyhrauch, 2008 WL ________ (9th Cir. Nov. 26, 2008)