Was Shelton developer James Botti “greasing the wheel“ to become a big developer in Shelton?
Or was he simply following the old-time values that people in the Valley embrace when he did favors for the mayor and gave gifts to public officials?
Each perspective was argued Wednesday at U.S. District Court in New Haven during closing arguments in Botti’s federal corruption trial.
The arguments, which lasted most of the day Wednesday, are the last word attorneys for Botti and the government get in the case.
The trial has lasted two and a half weeks.
Thursday morning Judge Charles Haight will give the jury its instructions on how to evaluate the facts, and about noon the jury will begin deliberating.
Greasing The Wheel
Assistant U.S. attorneys Rahul Kale and Richard Schechter asked jurors to find Botti guilty in their closing remarks. (Read in detail the government’s statements here.)
Kale said gifts and favors from Botti to public officials were his way of “greasing the wheel” to get ahead as a developer in Shelton.
He corrupted the land-use process and the “nice people” involved along the way, Kale argued.
‘It Doesn’t Fit Together’
But Dow argued that the government’s case is “fatally flawed” in that it lacks perspective.
In his closing statements, Dow repeated arguments that Botti was bombastic and can’t be believed, and called into question the evidence the government put forward.
(Read Dow’s arguments in more detail here.)
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