Ex-NY Senate leader John Sampson loses bid to delay surrender date

This May 6, 2013 photo shows former New York State... — This May 6, 2013 photo shows former New York State Senate Democratic leader John Sampson. Sampson is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge on Wednesday in Brooklyn after a July 2015 corruption conviction. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy

By John Rileyjohn.riley@newsday.comMarch 28, 2017

Former state Senate Democratic leader John Sampson on Tuesday lost a last-ditch bid to get an appeals court to delay his scheduled April 21 surrender date for the start of a 5-year sentence on federal corruption charges.

Sampson was convicted in 2015 of obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI during an investigation of his embezzlement of escrow money to run a political campaign. He was sentenced in January. Sampson wanted the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay the prison term while his appeal is being heard.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court heard brief arguments from Sampson’s lawyer on Tuesday morning, and rejected the request in a brief order Tuesday afternoon.

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