A federal judge rejected former Gov. John G. Rowland’s last attempt Monday to overturn his second felony conviction.
In a 12-page ruling, Judge Janet Bond Arterton denied Rowland’s lawyers request for a new trial. Rowland is expected to be sentenced at 10 a.m. Wednesday in New Haven. The sentencing comes 10 years after his first sentencing on charges related to accepting illegal gifts while in office.
His recent conviction is related to the unreported work he did for Lisa Wilson-Foley’s congressional campaign in 2012. Rowland’s lawyers argued in court documents that government prosecutors withheld information from them regarding the consulting contract Rowland had with Wilson-Foley and her husband, Brian Foley.
Foley testified during Rowland’s trial in September that the former governor’s contract was a sham designed to pay him for campaign work.
However, Wilson-Foley was not called as a witness and in a post-trial court document her lawyer, Craig Raabe, argued that she initially believed Rowland was a campaign volunteer who was being paid for legitimate work at her husband’s company. Rowland’s defense team said they likely would have called Wilson-Foley as a witness if they had known that.
In her ruling, Arterton said Rowland’s defense team had enough evidence to make a decision about whether to call Wilson-Foley as a trial witness. She said the defense even contends it came “very close” to calling her as a witness, but did not “because Mr. Rowland had limited information as to what Ms. Wilson-Foley would say if called as a witness.”
The ruling is consistent with Arterton’s previous rulings in the case.
Rowland’s lawyers have postponed his sentencing for two months with the argument that the government withheld evidence. In February, Arterton denied their motion for further discovery in the case.
Prosecutors have asked Arterton to impose a 40 to 46 month sentence on Rowland and a 10-month sentence on Wilson-Foley, whose sentencing has also been postponed.
Foley was sentenced in January and received three years of probation and three months in a halfway house.
