Ruben Willis - Fraud / Theft
Wills, Ruben; fraud, theft; NRE: no crime
130 N.Y.S.3d 1416; 2nd Dept. 9/16/20; reversed, due to evidentiary error
"[Wills], a former New York City Council Member for District 28 in Queens, allegedly used grant money awarded to his nonprofit organization, New York 4 Life, by the New York State Office of Children & Family Services (hereinafter OCFS), and public campaign matching funds given to him by the New York City Campaign Finance Board, to pay for personal expenses."
"[W]e are satisfied that the verdict of guilt...was not against the weight of the evidence..."
"However, [Wills] was deprived of his right to present evidence by witnesses of his own choosing, [which] is a fundamental ingredient of due process'...The testimony of a defendant's witness should not be prospectively excluded unless it is offered in palpably bad faith...'
"'Pursuant to Penal Law § 155.15(1), "[i]n any prosecution for larceny committed by trespassory taking or embezzlement, it is an affirmative defense that the property was appropriated under a claim of right made in good faith"'...In this case, [Wills] claimed that the money from the grant from OCFS was appropriated mistakenly but in good faith as reimbursement for expenses he personally paid for events occurring in 2008 and 2009, after the grant was awarded but in a time period not covered by the grant. [He] intended to call as witnesses, a videographer who would attest to the fact that he got paid for services at a 2009 event, and others who would testify as to other expenses at that event. [County] Court [ Ira Margulis ] precluded the testimony of these witnesses on the ground that they could not testify as to the source of the money that was used to pay them. Defense counsel thereafter renewed his application to have these witnesses testify, contending that [Wills] was under the mistaken impression that the contract period was retroactive to 2008. Evidence of that mistaken impression was presented through the testimony of another witness, who claimed that documentary evidence of the expenses was lost in a flood of the offices of New York 4 Life, which ccurred either in 2009 or during Hurricane Irene or Hurricane Sandy.
"The record does not establish that [Wills] was acting in bad faith in seeking to present the testimony of these witnesses at trial...[I]t was error for [County Court -- Ira Margulis ] to have prospectively excluded [Willis'] witnesses from testifying, and, under the facts of this case, that error cannot be deemed harmless."
NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):
"On July 20, 2017, the jury convicted Wills...He was sentenced to two to six years in prison, fined $5,000,* and ordered to make restitution of $32,874."
[* Judge Paul Czajka also fined Nickel $5,000.]
"On August 12, 2019, Wills was released on parole.
"On September 16, 2020, the...Appellate Division...reversed the convictons and ordered a new trial."
"On April 22, 2021, the prosecution dismissed the charges."
[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]
