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July 10, 2008

Judge Lisi rules on Urciuoli, Driscoll pretrial motions

A federal judge in Providence ruled this morning on motions in the corruption case against Robert Urciuoli and Frances Driscoll, former Roger Williams Medical Center executives charged with bribing former state Sen. John Celona.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi also took under advisement other motions by the defense, which is seeking to limit the evidence that the government can present in its second trial of Urciuoli and Driscoll, which is scheduled to begin in September. The pair was convicted in 2006, but a federal appeals court in Boston earlier this year ordered a new trial, saying that the judge, Ernest Torres, had improperly instructed the jury.

This time, Celona, the government’s star witness against Urciuoli and Driscoll, has been so discredited that prosecutors have said that they don’t intend to call him to testify in the second trial, provided that the defense agrees to allow the introduction of certain documents, including faxes between Celona and the former hospital executives about his State House efforts on their behalf.

Urciuoli is the former CEO of Roger Williams; Driscoll was a vice president. Celona worked as a consultant to the hospital and its affiliated assisted-living center. The defense says that he performed legitimate senior outreach; the prosecution says that was a sham and that Celona was paid for political favors.

The government and the defense are also squabbling over what instructions Lisi should give the jury in this case.

In the recent acquittal of two former CVS executives charged with bribing Celona, Lisi’s jury instructions were much different than those issued in the first Urciuoli-Driscoll case. In the CVS case, Lisi told jurors that it was permissible under Rhode Island ethics law for a company to hire a part-time Rhode Island lawmaker and even communicate with him or her on legislation affecting that company.

The instructions, combined with Celona’s lack of credibility, led to a swift acquittal of the two former CVS executives, John Kramer and Carlos Ortiz.

Judge Lisi today also denied Urciuoli’s motion to pursue allegations that Roger Williams improperly fired him and cut off his legal fees under pressure from prosecutors. The government has said that the deferred prosecution agreement it reached with the hospital did not require Urciuoli’s firing.

The judge also denied Driscoll’s motion for a separate trial. Although Driscoll was acquitted of conspiracy in the first trial, and cannot be retried on that charge, she was convicted of a single count of honest-services mail fraud.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 3, with opening arguments set for Sept. 8.

-- Journal staff writer Mike Stanton

Extra: Our continuing report on Operation Dollar Bill

Posted by maria caporizzo  at 11:19 AM | Permalink

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