A federal appeals court on Wednesday asked a Manhattan federal judge to review whether disgraced ex-City Council member Larry Seabrook was denied a fair trial when he was convicted in 2012 in a brazen fraud scheme involving more than $1 million in taxpayer money.
The bagel-loving Bronx Democrat – who is serving a five-year prison sentence – had appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that his constitutional rights were violated at trial when a deputy clerk asked his brother, a friend and a constituent to leave the courtroom during part of jury selection.
The panel said that it's not resolving the issue but gave the crooked politician new hope for a retrial.
The judges said his claim "warrants further fact finding" and sent the case back to Judge Deborah Batts to "clarify whether people were excluded from the courtroom."
"If members of the public were asked to leave, the district court should make findings as to whether defense counsel was aware that people were excluded," the panel wrote. "These findings are necessary before we can determine whether Seabrook's Sixth Amendment rights were violated and, if so, whether he waived the claim. Moreover, the district court has not considered the issue."
Seabrook was booted off the Council after his conviction and previously served in the state Assembly and Senate.
Batts declined to slap Seabrook with a fine but ordered him to pay more than $619,000 in restitution to the city for funneling public funds to shady non-profits that employed his then-mistress, family members and friends.
The feds had sought to hold Seabrook accountable for more than $1.1 million, which they said represented a "conservative analysis" of what he scammed.
A jury found Seabrook guilty on nine counts of conspiracy and fraud for three separate schemes to loot council "slush" funds and programs to boost minority employment and diversity in the city Fire Department.
But he beat the rap for a fourth alleged scam that included allegations that he doctored a receipt to get reimbursed $177 from his political club for a bagel sandwich and Diet Snapple.
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