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Zimmermann conviction stands
Former Minneapolis Council Member Dean Zimmermann lost an appeal in his corruption case. He is serving 30 months in prison.
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The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld the 2006 corruption conviction of former Minneapolis City Council Member Dean Zimmermann.
A three-judge panel unanimously found that the evidence supported charges that Zimmermann had accepted an illegal gratuity in exchange for his support of a developer's projects.
In a 13-page opinion, Judges Diana Murphy, of Minneapolis, Michael Melloy, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lavenski Smith, of Little Rock, Ark., reviewed the sequence of events that led to Zimmermann's indictment.
In 2004, Zimmermann had solicited help from real estate developer Gary Carlson to retire about $100,000 in legal fees from an unsuccessful attempt to challenge the city's redistricting plan in 2002. Carlson became an informant for the FBI.
In 2005, Zimmermann told Carlson that the attorney might write off the bill for his redistricting challenge, and he suggested that Carlson make a donation as a demonstration of good faith. Carlson gave Zimmermann $5,000.
Carlson replied that he would take care of Zimmermann if he voted for the proposed multimillion-dollar development project known as the Chicago Commons and helped win its approval from the City Council's Zoning and Planning Committee. Zimmermann replied, "OK. You got it."
He asked Carlson to help raise campaign contributions and suggested that he donate money in the names of his cousins. And he suggested that Carlson pay straw donors to get them to say that the money was theirs.
Zimmermann later accepted $1,200 from Carlson in the names of four straw donors. On another occasion, Zimmermann accepted $1,000 from Carlson, who told him to write in the names of donors himself.
U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery sentenced Zimmermann to 30 months in prison, and he appealed.
The appeals court noted that Zimmermann was convicted of accepting gratuities rather than bribes, which meant prosecutors did not have to prove that Carlson got any direct benefit.
The court rejected the notion that Zimmermann was entrapped. Citing the fact that he changed his story several times when confronted by FBI agents, Murphy wrote that he had shown both "guilty knowledge and predisposition" to take the money.
Zimmerman has been imprisoned since January.
Dan Browning • 612-673-4493
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