A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a former Louisiana lawmaker found guilty of scheming to steal more than $1 million from taxpayer-funded charities but also ordered a lower court to resentence her.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision Wednesday, affirmed former state Rep. Renee Gill Pratt's conviction but vacated her sentence and returned the case to the district level for resentencing.
Gill Pratt was sentenced to more than seven years in prison following her 2011 conviction for conspiring with relatives of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson to pocket money earmarked for charitable and educational programs.
The appellate court says it could not say that the sentencing range used in her case was correctly calculated based on the record before the court.