LINCOLN- Lawyers for former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry have asked a judge to throw out his conviction, after receiving three guilty verdicts for lying to federal investigators.

In their request for acquittal, Fortenberry’s lawyers charged that federal prosecutors failed to show that the congressman’s false statements to investigators were “material” and had an impact on the overall federal investigation.

The attorneys also said the federal statute on materiality was unconstitutionally vague and should be thrown out.

“The law does not criminalize every false statement that is made to the government. Nor does it criminalize any act of concealment from the government,” wrote defense attorney Glen E. Summers in a 23-page pleading.

Only false statements that are a “materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation,” are criminal, he wrote.

Summers cited a ruling by the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in another false statement case. She wrote that “the function of law enforcement … is the prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals” and not “the manufacturing of crime.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, which prosecuted the case, said Wednesday that prosecutors will respond with their own court filing.

For the full article click HERE