Their lawyers sought to overturn their fraud convictions on the grounds the trial judge had given improper instructions to the jury that found them guilty.
The judge, Acting Justice Steven Barrett of State Supreme Court, found that the prosecution had given improper instructions to the grand jury that indicted the officer, Richard Haste.
Mr. Nacchio, who has remained free on bond, appealed the conviction, arguing that there was inadequate evidence to convict him, that the jury had received improper instructions and that Judge Nottingham had wrongly disallowed expert testimony critical to his defense.
While the judge, John Herlihy of Santa Clara County Superior Court, said Mr. Gonzales and an aide, Joe Guerra, improperly concealed their dealings with the company, Norcal Waste Systems Inc., improper instructions given to the grand jury that indicted the pair required him to throw out the charges.
But in the sentencing phase of the trial, the court said, the judge failed to fully inform the jury about the terms of the alternative sentence of life in prison and gave improper instructions on how the jury should evaluate the victim impact statement and mitigating and aggravating factors.
[Nacchio] contended the jury was given improper instructions about what internal information had to be disclosed publicly.
An appeals court ordered in September that she deserved a new trial, because the jury received improper instructions from the judge about proving self-defense.
The employees are appealing this ruling; their position is that the Bechtel group admitted that it discriminated against older employees but that the judge gave improper instructions to the jury on how it should evaluate this evidence.
While judicial mistakes at trial — including improper instructions to juries or rulings on evidence — were the most common causes for reversal, cited in 164 cases, prosecutorial misconduct was found in 86 of the cases.
The state's 2nd District Court of Appeals threw out the convictions, saying the trial judge had given an improper jury instruction.
But their opponents argue that most of their cases, including all of those reversed in California, have been dropped or dismissed on technicalities, such as ineffective counsel or an improper jury instruction. .
