U.S. District Judge Gretchen Lund formally recused herself from James Snyder’s case earlier this week, court filings show.
The reason was not disclosed, but it cited a section of U.S. code detailing various reasons for recusal, including lacking impartiality, having a financial tie to a case, having previously worked on a case, or a judge’s spouse is linked to a case.
His Jan. 14 sentencing date was cancelled. A status phone conference is set for 11 a.m. EST on Jan. 20. before Chief Judge Holly A. Brady in Fort Wayne.
Court filings state she will eventually reassign the case to a different judge. Lund has only overseen the case since December 2024.
Snyder’s lawyer J. Taylor Kirklin was not immediately available.
Lund denied Snyder’s bid for a new trial on Nov. 26, writing it was “simply too late.”
It’s the latest chapter in a saga that began nine years ago when Snyder was indicted on one count of defrauding the IRS and two counts of bribery, one involving towing contracts and the other involving garbage trucks.
A jury in U.S. District Court in Hammond found Snyder not guilty on the charge involving the towing contract, and convicted him twice on the garbage truck charge, a case that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which deemed in June of last year that the $13,000 payment Snyder received over a garbage truck contract was a gratuity, not a bribe, because the payment came after the contract and not before. The case was remanded to the lower courts.
A jury convicted Snyder on the IRS charge, which involved his personal business and not his duties as mayor at the time, and that conviction had remained unchallenged.
Snyder was scheduled to go to trial for a third time on the charge involving the garbage truck contract, but prosecutors have said they would like to sentence Snyder for obstructing the IRS and forgo a third trial on his bribery charge.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/19/federal-judge-recuses-herself-in-snyder-case/
