From Kevin Wack’s story in the December 28 Portland (ME) Press Herald:
James Tobin, the Republican political operative from Maine who was convicted last month of plotting to jam Democrats’ phone lines, is seeking a new trial. Tobin, once a rising star in the GOP, also wants a federal judge to overturn the jury’s guilty verdict…The documents filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, N.H., do not include an argument for why the jury’s guilty verdict should be vacated or why Tobin should be granted a new trial.
Before and during the trial, defense lawyers came up with a laundry list of legalistic complaints, including 44 objections in the time it took Judge Steven McAuliffe to read 39 pages of jury instructions. So it’s hard to guess which claim will serve as the basis for this appeal.