A jury on Thursday convicted former U.S. Rep. Sam Steiger of theft by extortion for threatening a parole board member to get his vote on a personnel matter while serving in the Evan Mecham administration. ``Any time you go to court you can expect a guilty verdict, but it's difficult to believe,'' Steiger said in the courtroom moments after the jury returned its verdict. Steiger, who was a top aide to the now-ousted Republican governor, was accused of threatening Ron Johnson, a member of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. Steiger allegedly threatened to withhold permission for Johnson to work as a part-time Tempe justice of the peace and to remove him from the board unless he voted to retain as executive director Patricia Costello, a Mecham appointee. Judge Ronald Reinstein of Maricopa County Superior Court scheduled a May 6 sentencing for the 59-year-old Steiger, who faces up to five years in prison. Asked whether the verdict would be appealed, defense attorney Thomas Karas said, ``We'll take it one step at a time.'' Steiger said, ``That's up to counsel.'' Jury foreman Greg Jones, a fire captain in suburban Mesa, said the deciding factor behind the verdict was ``the tapes of the phone call between Steiger and Johnson.'' Johnson called Steiger at home from the office of the state attorney general, who taped the call. During testimony Monday, Steiger denied that he threatened Johnson or told him how he should vote. But the state alleged that Steiger followed up on the alleged threat in a letter and a telephone conversation after Johnson voted with the board majority to seek Ms. Costello's resignation. The board voted 4-3 that Ms. Costello should step down because of low staff morale. Steiger, a former five-term congressman, testified that he did suggest that Johnson should back Ms. Costello but denied that he tried to ``steal'' Johnson's vote by threatening his job. Karas had asked Reinstein to declare a mistrial, contending the conviction of Mecham at his state Senate impeachment trial Monday might prejudice jurors against Steiger. However, Reinstein ruled that great care had been taken to select unbiased jurors. Steiger gave up his 3rd Congressional District seat in 1976 to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as a Republican.
