Joey Merlino served all but 10 days of a four-month prison sentence vacated last month by an appellate court panel for violating the terms of his supervised release.
In a report issued Tuesday, the panel explained the findings that led to its decision to vacate the U.S. District Court decision to put Merlino behind bars, according to a
bigtrial.net story by George Anastasia. Merlino was released on April 24.
"They owe me four months," Merlino quipped during a phone interview this afternoon, adding, "I hope they just leave me alone. I'm not doing anything wrong."
Bigtrial.net explains that Merlino, also known as “Skinny Joey,” won on a technicality, even though his attorney maintains his client had done nothing wrong:
The appellate court never took up the broader defense argument that there was not sufficient evidence to support the allegation that Merlino had knowingly consorted with fellow South Philadelphia mobster John Ciancaglini in a Boca Raton cigar bar while on supervised release.
Instead, the appellate judges ruled, 2-1, that the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia no longer had jurisdiction because Merlino’s three-year probation period ended before he was served a summons.
Read the full story
here.
