United States v. Maloney
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
71 F.3d 645 (1995)
Retired Chicago judge Thomas Maloney (defendant) conspired with lawyers between 1977 and 1983 to fix cases for bribes, pausing his bribe-taking after a 1983 corruption investigation but resuming in 1986 when assigned Earl Hawkins's high-profile murder trial. Through an intermediary, Maloney accepted a $10,000 bribe to "throw" the trial, but according to trial testimony, he personally reassured the defense lawyer twice that he would keep the bribe and rule for the defense, only returning the money near the trial's end once he realized the prosecution's strong case made an acquittal too suspicious and likely to attract FBI scrutiny. Maloney argued returning the bribe showed he had voluntarily withdrawn from the conspiracy and sought a withdrawal-defense jury instruction, which the trial court denied; the jury convicted him.
Whether, in a conspiracy case, a successful withdrawal defense requires proof that the defendant took some affirmative action to leave the conspiracy.