Arguing that the federal prosecution of former Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell was unique in the annals of public corruption cases, his attorneys on Tuesday afternoon asked the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction and his two-year prison sentence.
The challenge is based partly on a test of the kind of proof needed for a conviction for taking gifts in return for “official acts,” and partly on a claim that the trial judge failed to probe the impact on potential jurors of the heavy publicity surrounding his case.
The cert petition at page 29 quotes a Bob Bauer blog post on the case.