Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE -- Today will be the fifth day the jury deliberates in the corruption case of two former Roger Williams Medical Center executives accused of corruptly hiring former North Providence state Sen. John A. Celona to do political favors at the State House beneficial to the medical center and its affiliated nursing homes.

Robert A. Urciuoli, the hospital's former president and chief executive, is charged with one count of conspiracy and 35 counts of honest-services mail fraud.

Frances P. Driscoll, former vice president for marketing, is charged with one count of aiding and abetting the alleged conspiracy.

The jury is scheduled to return to deliberations at 9 a.m. today in federal court in Providence.

Friday afternoon Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary Lisi told jurors, "I understand you would like to go home" and a short time after she dismissed them for the weekend.

Earlier Friday the jury had asked Judge Lisi for clarification on the second count of the indictment, which is the lone count against Driscoll.

They asked the judge to clarify the meaning of "willfully" and "voluntarily" in Count 2 , which charges Driscoll with aiding and abetting her co-defendant Robert A. Urciuoli in a scheme to steal the honest services of Celona.

Lisi said that the first question regarding Count 2 was too broad for her to answer, and for guidance on their second question, the judge referred jurors to her instructions.

At trial, the defense maintained that Celona was legally hired to perform valid work promoting the hospital and its affiliates to senior citizens and that the state Ethics Commission issued a ruling that allowed him to work as a consultant, provided that he did not vote on health-care legislation that directly affected Roger Williams.

This was the second trial for both Urciuoli and Driscoll.

In October 2006, Urciuoli was convicted of one count of conspiracy and 35 counts of theft of honest services -- which is mail fraud -- and sentenced to three years in prison. Driscoll was convicted of one mail fraud charge and sentenced to 8 months in prison.

The two appealed the convictions, their lawyers arguing that Senior U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres gave the jury instructions that allowed them to convict Celona for work he did that was legal.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston overturned the convictions in January 2007. The retrial began in early September.

Both were free on bail pending the retrial.

Read more about the trial and the federal investigation.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick and Journal archival reports

 Tags  Frances P. Driscoll Robert A. Urciuoli Roger Williams Medical Center Sen. John A. Celona

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