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May 27, 2008

CVS trial: Celona won't return; jurors to get day off

PROVIDENCE -- John A. Celona, the star witness in the trial of two former CVS executives, will not return to the stand after all.

This afternoon, defense lawyers informed the court that they would not summon Celona, the ex-senator from North Providence, to clarify an alleged phone call he made to the state Ethics Commission a few weeks before CVS hired him as consultant in 2000.

Celona spent four days last week testifying in the trial of John Kramer, 75, and Carlos Ortiz, 64, who are accused of hiring the corrupt legislator to help advance the Woonsocket-based drugstore chain’s legislative agenda at the State House.

Today, Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi announced from the bench that the defense team had a right to call him back to court. She gave them the option after they filed a motion alleging that prosecutors withheld evidence from them.

The defense team argued that the prosecution knowingly failed to inform them that Celona had changed his story about contacting the Ethics Commission for an advisory opinion on the CVS consulting agreement. In past grand jury and court testimony, Celona had claimed that he spoke to an unidentified person at the Ethics Commission who said that there would be no conflict for an elected official to work for CVS. Last week, Celona testified that the conversation was more "abstract,’’ and that he did not specifically mention CVS.

Lisi said the prosecution had an obligation to inform the defense lawyers about Celona’s latest version of the phone conversation.

With the decision not to recall Celona, jurors will get the day off tomorrow.

They will return to court on Thursday for closing arguments and, no later than Friday, they will begin deliberating the fates of Kramer and Ortiz.

-- Journal staff writer W. Zachary Malinowski

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 4:04 PM | Permalink

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