JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Federal prosecutors are asking a federal appeals court to push "pause" on their reversal of former Congresswoman Corrine Brown's conviction while they decide whether to appeal their decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a filing late Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a "Motion to Stay the Issuance of the Mandate for 90 Days Pending the Acting Solicitor General’s Decision Whether to File a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in the Supreme Court."
The "mandate" prosecutors hope to stay is the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals order telling the lower U.S. District Court to erase Brown's conviction and sentence, and give her a new trial.
If the 11th Circuit approves the motion, Brown's conviction and sentence will stay in place until the U.S. Solicitor General decides whether to seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The motion notes that prosecutors seek to take cases to the Supreme Court for "further review only in cases that present substantial questions and meet the requisite standards."
Brown was convicted in May 2017 on 18 counts of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion in what federal prosecutors said was a scheme to plunder some $300,000 from a fake charity for personal use.
That conviction was erased last week when the appeals court found U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan erred when he removed a juror who said the “Holy Spirit” told him before the trial that Brown was not guilty.