A lawyer for Suffolk Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins argued on Tuesday that a judge should throw out the federal extortion charges against the embattled Tompkins because his actions amounted to nothing more than common political favor-swapping.

“To bring that to a federal crime requires an agreement or promise — otherwise we’re dealing with a hope; creating a hope, creating an expectation" that a favor might be repaid in kind in the future, said his attorney Martin G. Weinberg during a hearing in US District Court in Boston.

“This indictment is saturated with uncertainty.”

The hearing, in which lawyers cited multiple scandals in modern Massachusetts history as case examples of when a crime occurs, came as Tompkins continues to fight for his liberty and lucrative job as the government a

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