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January 31, 2008

Oster trial: Defense grills prosecution's witness

PROVIDENCE -- The defense lawyer in ex-Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan F. Oster's bribery and conspiracy trial tried for much of this morning to diminish the credibility of prosecution witness William Dickie, the former assistant solicitor who handled a tax appeal from the wife of the man the state says was Oster's co-conspirator.

Defense lawyer C. Leonard O'Brien pressed Dickie on statements he gave to the state police after Oster's arrest in February 2002 and in April 2002 grand jury testimony. Dickie had said he didn't learn that former planning official Robert R. Picerno and his wife had not paid taxes on their home while their tax appeal was pending.

That was important because having paid the taxes first is required for the kind of suit the Picernos filed.

The state's case in Providence County Superior Court contends that Robert R. Picerno was Oster's partner in a bribery scheme centered around a Route 116 property in Lincoln. Picerno pleaded no contest in 2004 to four counts of taking, or trying to solicit, bribes, and three counts of conspiracy to solicit bribes.

In the first days of trial, the prosection has tried to show that Oster and Picerno had a relationship in which Picerno had access to Oster's office and got unusual treatment from the town in relation to property taxes.

Picerno’s wife, Joyce, filed the suit contesting the way the town assessed taxes on the Preakness Drive home for the period of 1998 to 2000, refusing to pay about $22,000 in property taxes over those years, some before Oster took office.

O'Brien today played a tape of the Nov. 20, 2001, Lincoln Town Council closed session in which Dickie told the council the taxes were not paid. O'Brien also produced transcripts of Dickie's interview with state police and his grand jury testimony given after Oster's arrest, where he had said he didn't learn about the unpaid taxes until after the Nov. 20 council session.

Dickie testified today that he first thought the taxes were not paid but said that during the Nov. 20 meeting Oster said they had been paid. Dickie was not able to show a point on the tape where Oster said that.

O'Brien further challenged Dickie, saying that when discussing the settlement, Dickie talked about the Picernos paying the town, not the town refunding taxes already paid. And when Dickie said the taxes had not been paid, Oster never corrected him on the tape.

Read about yesterday's testimony.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer John Hill

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 2:02 PM | Permalink

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