Business Inspector’s Request of Sex From Immigrant Not Bribery

The Third Circuit overturned a bribery conviction Monday of a Virgin Island business license inspector who told a manicurist during an inspection that if she had sex with him he wouldn’t tell immigration officials she was unlawfully in the country.

The Virgin Island law under which Robert Defreitas was convicted required him to request something of value in exchange for doing an “official act.” Because such an act isn’t defined, Defreitas wanted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to ask the Virgin Islands Supreme Court for a definition.

The panel declined to certify the question, with Judge ...