(WTXL) — The U.S. Court of Appeal for the 11th District affirmed a ruling by a lower federal court after an appeal of a conviction by a real estate developer.
The case involved corruption with former city of Tallahassee officials.
In the opinion released Tuesday by the three judges preceding the appeal of John Burnette, they ruled it did not need to decide if the district court erred in instructing the jury regarding the meaning and application of the term "official act".
The evidence presented at trial was sufficient to permit the jury to conclude that Burnette assisted in bribing Scott Maddox, a former Tallahassee commissioner, in connection with a qualifying “official act,” the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding evidence pertaining to an FBI agent’s conduct during the undercover investigation.
The opinion added that any error that the court might have committed in admitting the agent's testimony that Burnette had made “false exculpatory statements” was harmless.
The judges noted in their opinion that evidence was sufficient to permit the jury to conclude that Burnette made actionable false statements to FBI agent in the course of their official investigation, in violation of U.S. code.
In 2021, J.T. Burnette was convicted of extortion, honest services mail fraud, Travel Act and lying to the FBI. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison.
