The lone defendant found guilty at trial in the Hertel & Brown federal fraud case wants her conviction overturned, claiming she was the victim of a “grave miscarriage of justice” in which the jury rendered a split and inconsistent verdict.
“The jury in this case got the verdict wrong,” the defendant, Julie A. Johnson, is arguing in a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Erie. “It was a mistaken verdict that reflects juror confusion and likely a reliance on misleading and prejudicial information presented by the government.”
Johnson and her lawyers filed the 24-page motion on Nov. 6, the deadline for her to challenge her conviction. The filing came less than two weeks before sentencing hearings are to resume for the defendants who pleaded guilty in the Hertel & Brown case — 18 in all, with two sentenced so far and many sentencings rescheduled. The next sentencing is Nov. 18.
Johnson convicted at joint trial; 2 others acquitted
Johnson, 44, was one of three defendants who went to trial in the 21-defendant case against the Erie-based Hertel & Brown Physical & Aquatic Therapy, its two owners and 18 employees. The defendants were indicted in November 2021 on charges that they conspired to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers by overbilling by $22 million over 14 years. The case is the largest-ever prosecution of white-collar crime in Erie…