Judge Upholds Former Austin Lawyer's Conviction

Marc Rosenthal, a former personal injury lawyer, failed to get his conviction overturned for racketeering and fraud.

A federal appeals court has upheld the Austin lawyer’s conviction and 20-year sentence on charges tied to bribes for favorable rulings from a South Texas judge. He’s convicted of funneling bribes to the judge, fabricating evidence and scheming to pay witnesses for false testimony.

Rosenthal argued that prosecutors should have been barred from presenting information from government wiretaps at his 2013 trial.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, had a different perspective, stating that investigators properly sought court permission to tap phones owned by state District Judge Abel Limas, who is currently serving a six-year sentence for accepting bribes, and former state Rep. Jim Solis, D-San Benito, who is sentenced to almost four years in prison for extortion.

The appeals court made the ruling on Oct. 14, and stated that even if the wiretaps had been inadmissible, Rosenthal’s right to a fair trial wasn’t violated because jurors heard the same information from Limas and Solis, who testified against him. The court also rejected his argument that jurors did not have proper instructions.

Rosenthal was identified in a four-year FBI investigation in a South Texas cash-for-court rulings scandal that dealt nearly a dozen guilty verdicts.

Rosenthal’s law license has been suspended. The State Bar of Texas is seeking permanent disbarment.