Connecticut's Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that threw out the corruption convictions of former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez.
Prosecutors sought to reverse a 2013 Appellate Court ruling, which found the state improperly combined two cases into one trial. Perez was mayor from 2001 to 2010, when he was convicted of accepting a contractor's bribe of home improvements and trying to extort $100,000 from a developer. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but has remained free on bail during his appeal.
Perez's defense lawyer, Hubert Santos, successfully argued that holding one trial violated Perez's right to testify in one case and remain silent in the other. Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane says it's his intention to retry Perez in accordance with the Supreme Court decision.
Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.