A key question that the jury must decide is whether Kramer and Ortiz acted "knowingly and willfully’’ to corrupt Celona by hiring him to influence his actions as a senator.

Under Rhode Island law, Lisi explained to the jury, part-time legislators can participate in legislation affecting a company they work for, as long as the legislation affects all similar types of businesses equally. It is the legislator’s responsibility to determine if there is a conflict, and whether to avoid participating.

Furthermore, Lisi instructed, the law allows a business with a legislator on its payroll to communicate with that legislator regarding legislation, provided that the payments to the legislator are not intended to influence his official actions.

Kramer and Ortiz maintain that CVS hired Celona for legitimate public relations purposes and that the defendants’ communications with Celona on legislation was permissible.

The prosecution counters that there was no sensible reason for CVS to hire Celona, other than for political favors, since the evidence shows that he didn’t do the public relations work mentioned in his consulting agreement, that he was paid from CVS’s political contributions account and that Kramer and Ortiz sought to conceal the relationship.

Prosecutors hammered at the point that Celona helped kill pharmacy choice legislation that Kramer and Ortiz reported would have cost CVS millions of dollars in profits.