A federal appeals court has reinstated the wire fraud conviction of a former supervisor for the Illinois secretary of state's office.
Cecil Turner was convicted on four counts of wire fraud in 2006 for covering up a scheme in which three janitors were paid for hours they didn't work.
Turner did not take any illegal money. He was convicted on the legal theory that he denied taxpayers the honest services they deserved.
The U.S. Supreme Court later narrowed the scope of "honest services" violations, and Turner's conviction was reversed.
The State Journal-Register reports a three-judge panel reinstated the conviction Thursday, finding the jury could not have convicted him of honest-services fraud had it not also been convinced "he aided and abetted the janitors' money fraud scheme."