THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994 TAG: 9406140342
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940614 LENGTH: Medium
The state Court of Appeals ruled that Wynne, who was mayor at the time, may not have relied on false pretenses when he received a $1,000 contribution from Sumitomo Machinery Corp. in 1990.
{REST} The court issued its ruling last week, but Wynne did not receive it until Monday.
``The elements of the crime just weren't there,'' Wynne said Monday. ``I had not schemed to defraud anybody. . . The notion that a sitting mayor would have to use false pretenses to get $1,000 is preposterous. Usually it's the other way around. Developers are trying to give you money.''
The ruling does not affect Wynne's 1992 federal conviction for defrauding banks by lying on loan applications. For that, Wynne served six months in prison.
The latest court ruling affects only Wynne's 1990 conviction in Chesapeake Circuit Court for obtaining money by false pretenses, a felony. He resigned as mayorthe next day, filed bankruptcy a month later, and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.
Wynne, 45, now works for R.K. Leasing in Virginia Beach and does occasional freelance writing.
During a two-day trial in the Sumitomo case, the main question was: Did Wynne deceive Sumitomo when he solicited the money?
Company officials testified that they met with Wynne for 15 minutes in December 1989. They said Wynne asked for money to defray the cost of entertaining foreign dignitaries.
The next month, Sumitomo sent Wynne a $1,000 check with a letter stating that the money would be used to help entertain foreign visitors. Wynne accepted the money, opened a bank account called ``Friends of Mayor Wynne 1990,'' deposited $900 and kept $100 for ``petty cash.''
Wynne then wrote a check to the city for $853.51 to repay personal travel advances he owed to Chesapeake.
During the trial, Wynne said he did not mislead Sumitomo. ``I would not have, and did not, use false pretenses,'' Wynne testified
But Judge N. Wescott Jacob, who convicted Wynne, said the mayor showed ``extremely poor judgment'' in soliciting the money and did not tell Sumitomo officials the real reason he needed the money.
``By his own admission, he was going to get this money to pay his personal debts,'' Jacob said. ``Calling it a travel bill was an excuse in his own mind. This $853 was not travel expenses, gentlemen. He owed the city a personal debt of $853.''
Before he could serve his sentence, Wynne appealed the conviction.
In November 1993, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals upheld the conviction on a 2-1 vote. ``The testimony of Sumitomo's representatives proves that the false pretenses induced Sumitomo to make its contribution. . . ,'' the judges wrote.
But last week, the full Court of Appeals voted 5-3 to reverse the conviction. The court ruled that prosecutors did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wynne's ``false pretenses'' induced Sumitomo to give him $1,000. ``To the contrary,'' the court wrote, ``the alleged victim stated that the representations made were not a determining factor in his decision to make a contribution to Wynne.''
Prosecutors cannot appeal the ruling. It is the final statement in the case. Special Prosecutor Richard C. Grizzard declined to comment on the ruling.
Upon hearing of the ruling Monday morning, Wynne said: ``It's really a tragedy, the whole thing. I don't think we were tried in an impartial way.''
{KEYWORDS} APPEAL OVERTURNED CONVICTION
by CNB