It was Seymour lawyer Ralph Crozier’s own words that now have him facing up to 40 years behind bars.
On Thursday a jury of eight men and four women found Crozier guilty of money laundering charges after a five-day trial at U.S. District Court in New Haven.
Afterward, the jury’s foreman said it was a concession Crozier made from the witness stand — that he knew a former client had been “dabbling” in selling prescription painkillers — that convinced jurors to vote guilty.
“There were times when he was his own worst enemy,” the foreman, Dan Delisle, of Cromwell, said outside the courthouse.
The jury delivered its verdict after deliberating Wednesday and Thursday in the wake of the trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Janet Hall.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18. The judge ordered Crozier not to take on new clients and to wrap up his law practice before that date.
During the trial federal prosecutors alleged Crozier agreed to launder $30,000 for Bruce Yazdzik, a drug-dealing former client, in 2011, then took another $11,000 of what he knew to be drug money from Yazdzik’s mother during a DEA sting last year.
Crozier said he knew Yazdzik as a used car salesman, and figured the source of the money was Yazdzik’s legitimate business dealings.
Crozier Maintains Innocence, Vows Appeal
Crozier said he was surprised and disappointed by the verdict.
He thanked his lawyer, Michael Hillis, for doing an “incredible job” with a “very difficult case.”
“I assume I will be appealing,” Crozier said.
“I would be much happier telling you it was a great day,” Crozier said. “But I am a realist. It wasn’t.”
Told the jury thought his “dabbling” admission was a key, Crozier said: “I wasn’t going to lie to them. I figured the guy had prescriptions, he probably was dabbling.”
He said he didn’t regret taking the witness stand.
“Like I said from day one, I had nothing to hide,” Crozier said. “There are innocent people who are convicted.”
‘Red Flags’
In the end, Delisle, the jury foreman, said the jury concluded that Crozier must have known Yazdzik’s cash came from selling drugs.
“I think any reasonable person would think that Mr. Yazdzik wasn’t working, that he had all kinds of this money,” Delisle said. “Red flags certainly would have been going up. At least we all thought that.”
About 1:30 p.m. Thursday, jurors informed Judge Hall they had reached a verdict on the second count Crozier faced — attempted money laundering, but were deadlocked on the first count.
Judge Hall told the jury to deliberate some more, and after about 20 minutes they returned to the courtroom to deliver guilty verdicts on both counts.
Delisle said the jury had an easier time with the second count because Crozier was recorded on a wire worn by Yazdzik’s mother in which he told her he didn’t want to involved her in “hiding things from the feds.”
“He took the money,” Delisle said. “As soon as he took that money, he violated the law.”
‘A Tough Case’
The jury had a more difficult time with the first count Crozier faced — conspiracy to launder money.
The foreman said the jury’s decision came down to the question of what Crozier knew and when he knew it.
On their first day of deliberations, the jury asked for part of Crozier’s testimony — during which he conceded that he thought Yazdzik might be “dabbling” in selling drugs — to be read back to them.
“That, to us, turned it,” Delisle said.
If not for that admission, he said the jury would’ve come back with a not guilty verdict, on the first charge, at least.
“It was a heated discussion and it’s a hard thing to determine, especially when you’re dealing with somebody’s life,” he said. “It could have gone either way on the first count.”
“There were good arguments on both sides, and everyone had an opinion and felt strongly about that opinion,” Delisle said. “It was definitely a tough case.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale, who prosecuted the case, declined to comment after the verdict.
Click here to read about the first day of the trial.
Click here to read about the second day of the trial.
Click here to read about the third day of the trial.
Click here to read about the fourth day of the trial.
Click here to read about the fifth day of the trial.
