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January 22, 2008

Update: U.S. Attorney intends to retry Urciuoli, Driscoll

PROVIDENCE -- The U.S. Attorney's Office in Providence says it will retry the case against former top Roger Williams Medical center executives Robert Urciuoli and Frances Driscoll, whose convictions for allegedly paying former state Sen. John Celona to press the hospital's legislative agenda at the State House were overturned on appeal.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Friday announced it vacated the convictions because U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres had given the jury overly broad instructions as to what constituted criminal acts, and that might have led the jury to convict based on actions that the appeals court does not consider to be federal crimes.

In a statement released this morning, U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente said his office believes the "central allegations of the indictment remain essentially unaffected and that they remain well-founded. Accordingly, we will retry the case against both Mr. Urciuoli and Ms. Driscoll."

In October 2006, Urciuoli was found guilty of conspiracy and 35 counts of mail fraud for hiring Celona, a North Providence Democrat, to push the hospital’s legislative agenda at the State House. Driscoll was convicted of one count of mail fraud. Urciuoli received a three-year prison sentence, and Driscoll, eight months.

The court had postponed the execution of their sentences pending the results of this appeal, and the hospital officials have been free on bail.

In 1998, Celona was hired to consult for an assisted-living facility and nursing home affiliated with Roger Williams. Prosecutors said Celona’s job was set up to pay him for political influence and that he got more than $260,000 to that end. Prosecutors said Celona killed certain legislation, lobbied towns to bolster ambulance runs to Roger Williams and pushed health insurers to increase reimbursements to the hospital.

During trial, Torres instructed the jury that “cloak of office” reached to all of Celona’s acts as a lawmaker, so the jury should consider things such as Celona’s lobbying town officials to benefit Roger Williams.

The appeals court's opinion noted a murky statute as it pertained to delineating a lawmaker's misconduct. Celona’s pressing local officials to obey state law did not equate to using his office to harm Rhode Island's citizens, the panel found.

“Celona’s conduct falls in a borderland where analogies can easily be drawn both to public and private conduct and there is no indication that Celona invoked any purported oversight authority or threatened to use official powers in support of his advocacy,” the decision read.

And the panel found that since the jury was told to look at advocacy for rescue runs as possible criminal conduct, the instructions were overbroad.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Corrente's statement said, "The court vacated the convictions because it believed that the instructions to the jury on honest services mail fraud permitted the jury to convict for conduct relating to the issue of rescue runs to Roger Williams Medical Center. Although the court stated it was 'fairly debatable,' it held that this conduct did not violate the federal honest services law."

"At the same time, however, the court held that Mr. Urciuoli could be prosecuted for using former Senator Celona to coerce health insurers into settlements with Roger Williams Medical Center," Corrente said. "Moreover, as the court noted, the defendants did not challenge the convictions as they related to using former Senator Celona 'to promote or block legislation to favor Roger Williams.' "

Celona resigned from the General Assembly in March 2004. He later pleaded guilty to selling his influence to Roger Williams, the CVS drugstore chain and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. He is serving a 2½-year federal prison setnence and faces 18 months in state prison after that.

Roger Williams Medical Center reached its own plea deal with the government in 2006, requiring it to take responsibility for criminal misconduct and provide the poor some $4 million of free health care.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Comments

This US Attorney should be charged with stupidy and a waste of taxpayer money! He had no case the first time around and even less now. He's the crook.

Frank Martin | January 22, 2008 4:03 PM link

From what the decision said, the conviction was overturned not because of anything the US Attorney did, it was overturned because of the instructions that the judge gave the jury. The judge made a mistake, not the prosecution. The appeals court decision said they had a good case. Next time, better jury instructions.

Concerned Person | January 22, 2008 5:17 PM link

Mr. Corrente should be ashamed of himself, especially for retrying Ms. Driscoll (though I also believe that Mr. Urciuoli should not be retried). Ms. Driscoll was carrying out policies and procedures that were set by others. Given her age and the health of her husband, it seems sadistic to go forward with this once more. If Ms. Driscoll and Mr. Urciuoli did commmitt any infraction, and I do not believe they did, they have already paid dearly. Their careers are finished. They have paid legal fees the average Rhode Islander cannot fathom. Enough. This is not Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Enough. If Mr. Urciuoli and/or Ms. Driscoll have legal defense funds, I would be happy to contribute.

David J. Hackett | January 22, 2008 11:39 PM link

January 22, 2008

Update: U.S. Attorney intends to retry Urciuoli, Driscoll

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