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Judge rules government can’t retry former Rep. Inman

"gavel" by bloomsberries is licensed with CC BY-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

A federal judge has ruled the government cannot retry former state Representative Larry Inman on charges of attempted extortion and bribery.

Inman was accused of soliciting campaign contributions from union officials in exchange for voting against repealing the state's prevailing wage law.

A jury found the Republican lawmaker from Northern Michigan not guilty of lying to the FBI. But the jury couldn't reach a verdict on the two corruption charges.

US District Court Judge Robert Jonker said a retrial on the corruption charges would amount to double jeopardy.

Jonker dismissed the two counts involving extortion and bribery.

The government could appeal the decision.