A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a conviction against former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling is about to help a once-powerful South Georgia judge.
In 2009, Brooks Blitch III, once a Clinch County Superior Court judge, pleaded guilty to honest services fraud and was sentenced to probation and fined $100,000. In a recent filing, federal prosecutors conceded Blitch's conviction must be vacated in light of the high court's ruling last year in the Skilling case.
In its ruling in the Skilling appeal, the Supreme Court found that the former Enron executive could not have been convicted of honest services fraud because there was no bribery or kickback involved. In a motion to vacate Blitch's conviction, the former judge's lawyers noted bribes and kickbacks also were not alleged in Blitch's case as well.
In response, federal prosecutors said, "The government does not oppose the entry of an order of this court vacating the conviction."
Blitch, however, cannot seek judicial office again. When he resigned from the bench, he signed a consent order with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission in which he agreed to "not seek or accept appointment or election to a judicial office as a senior judge or otherwise."
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