CINCINNATI — Former Cincinnati city councilman P.G. Sittenfeld will be released from prison while his appeal is pending, according to court records filed Wednesday.
Sittenfeld has served roughly 4 1/2 months of his 16 month sentence for his public corruption conviction.
Sittenfeld has maintained that he did nothing illegal by accepting $20,000 in campaign donations from undercover FBI agents who were posing as developers and championing their project to redevelop a blighted downtown property into a boutique hotel because he was a pro-development politician.
In Sittenfeld's release order, the court said release is permitted when the court finds a "defendant is not a flight risk, does not pose a danger to the safety of others and raises an appeal that 'is not for the purpose of delay and raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in' reversal or a new trial."
"After reviewing the briefs and hearing oral argument, we are persuaded that the standard for release pending appeal is met, though we express no opinion on the ultimate outcome of Sittenfeld's appeal," the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in the release order.
Last Thursday, Sittenfeld's attorneys asked a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out his conviction.
Ken Katkin, a Northern Kentucky University law professor who attended Sittenfeld's 2022 trial and Thursday's oral arguments at the appeals court, told WCPO 9 that it is extremely rare for an appeals court to overturn a jury's verdict in a criminal case — in fact, it only happens 10% of the time.
"I think he's got about as strong a chance as any defendant of getting a reversal after [Thursday's hearing]," Katkin said.
More than 75 people attended Thursday's hearing, mostly Sittenfeld’s friends, family and political supporters. Once every seat in the large courtroom had been filled, a court official directed the standing spectators to an overflow room where they could listen to the hearing.
The three-judge panel, which was comprised of John Bush, John Nalbandian and Eric Murphy, asked repeated questions that pushed the hearing to 40 minutes, when oral arguments are usually slated for 30 minutes.
It's unclear when exactly Sittenfeld will be released, but Katkin said the final appeals court decision may not come for three months.
