Petters asks full 8th Circuit to rehear his appeal



This undated photo provided by the Sherburne County, Minn., Jail shows Minnesota businessman Tom Petters. A federal judge on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008 ordered that Petters remain in custody on what federal prosecutors say was a scheme to defraud investors of up to $3 billion. (AP Photo/Sherburne County Jail via KSTP-TV)
Attorneys for convicted Minnesota businessman Tom Petters have asked the full Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear his appeal of his conviction of running a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme.
A three-judge panel denied Petters' appeal two weeks ago. Today, his lawyers petitioned for a rehearing before the entire appeals court. They say his right to a public trial was violated when the trial judge barred them from publicly presenting evidence from secret Witness Security Program files about the criminal past of a key prosecution witness, Larry Reynolds, a disbarred attorney who was kicked out of the program.
They say excluding that evidence contradicts a 1984 Supreme Court ruling.
Reynolds was an associate of Petters and pleaded guilty to his role in the scam. The defense alleges Reynolds was the real mastermind of the scheme.
In 2009, a jury found Petters guilty on 20 fraud counts.
Once the leader of a large Minnetonka-based business empire, Petters is now serving a 50-year prison sentence.

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