HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A judge may soon rule on whether to dismiss corruption charges against former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez.
Perez is set to return to Hartford Superior Court on Tuesday, when Judge Juliett Crawford may decide on Perez’s motions to dismiss.
Lawyers for the Democratic former mayor argue that retrials on the charges would violate the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy clause against being prosecuted for the same crimes more than once. Prosecutors disagree.
The state Supreme Court last year overturned Perez’s 2010 convictions for taking a bribe and attempted extortion, saying two cases were improperly combined into one trial. Perez was sentenced to three years in prison, but has remained free on appeal.
Perez was Hartford’s first Hispanic mayor and served from 2001 to 2010, when he resigned after being convicted.
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