CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Lawyers for a former national Republican Party official from Maine are trying to overturn his U.S. District Court conviction arising from a scheme to jam the Democrats’ get-out-the-vote phone lines during the 2002 elections in New Hampshire.

Three motions filed earlier this week on behalf of Bangor’s James Tobin seek a new trial, a judgment of acquittal and a nullification of the judgment in his case.

Federal prosecutors have been given 10 working days in which to respond to the motions, and Judge Steven McAuliffe is expected to rule on them before Tobin’s scheduled sentencing date of March 21.

After a six-day trial, jurors last month found Tobin guilty of conspiring to jam phone lines and aiding and abetting in the jamming. He was acquitted of the more serious charge of conspiring to deprive New Hampshire residents of their right to vote.

Tobin, 45, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, but prosecutors have said he stands to receive “nowhere near” the maximum sentence under federal guidelines.

In one of the motions, Tobin’s lawyers argue that the allegations in the indictment don’t fit the alleged crime because the phone-jamming plan did not intend to threaten, frighten or cause serious emotional distress on the recipient.

“A criminal prosecution, where an individual’s liberty is at stake, is not the place to experiment with novel applications of a vague law,” the motion states. “Because the statute does not plainly and unmistakably (prohibit) the alleged conduct … the indictment violate(s) the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.”

Tobin, who did not testify during the trial, is a Windham, Maine, native who worked in Maine and Washington for former Sen. William Cohen in the 1980s and also worked on the election campaigns of Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.

He stepped down as regional campaign chairman of President Bush’s re-election campaign in October 2004, when Democrats filed a lawsuit alleging that he took part in the phone-jamming scheme.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-01-20-06 1045EST