After a week of testimony in the federal corruption trial for Shelton developer James Botti, several themes are taking form.
The main theme — Mayor Mark A. Lauretti.
With more scandalous accusations being tossed from the witness stand about Lauretti each day, some have questioned the prosecution’s tactic of focusing on alleged favors to the mayor and his management style in town as they try to prove that Botti was bribing public officials to get approvals for development projects.
Lauretti has never been charged with a crime — yet he seems to be on trial.
So much so, that Botti’s defense attorney William Dow III, noted that he is defending Lauretti by default.
“In a way I’m going to be representing the town of Shelton, and, in a crazy way, Mark Lauretti, who isn’t even here,” Dow said during his opening remarks Monday at U.S. District Court in New Haven.
U.S. Prosecutor Richard Schultz told the jury in his opening statements that Lauretti and Botti were “partners in crime” and the testimony about Lauretti is brought as part of the conspiracy charge against Botti.
Read background about the trial here, here, here and here.
‘Doesn’t Fit The Mold’
Rich Meehan, a defense attorney who represented former Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim in his corruption trial 2003, said the strategy doesn’t match other corruption probes.
“I’ve learned an awful lot about the Justice Department playbook and prosecution of public officials,” Meehan said Friday afternoon.
He has detailed his thoughts on the strategy on his blog here and here.
Meehan said federal prosecutors often build up cases around peripheral players in the alleged corruption, indict those people and then “flip them” or get them to testify against the main target — the public official.
“This doesn’t fit the mold,” Meehan said. “If you’ve got a bigger fish here, the last thing you want to do is to expose what the evidence for that case may be.”
Is It Fair?
Then there’s the question on whether the process is fair, Meehan said.
“Who’s really on trial here?” Meehan asked.
Local supporters of Lauretti also questioned the fairness of the process.
“There’s nothing fair in this trial that I can see at this time,” said Anthony Simonetti, the chairman of the Shelton Republican Town Committee. “It’s all chatter. There’s no substance to what’s been said so far.”
David Gioiello, the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, declined to comment on the trial while it’s still underway.
“The trial is the trial, and we’ll see what happens,” Gioiello said. “People are talking about it. Everybody’s speculating and wondering what’s going to happen.”
No Response
Lauretti has been hard to contact this week. He didn’t return calls to the Valley Indy for most of the week. He missed Thursday night’s Aldermen meeting.
Meehan said Lauretti is in an awkward position, because without being charged, he doesn’t have the chance to answer the allegations in court.
And in the meantime, Meehan said, Lauretti’s being tried in the “court of public opinion.”
Meehan said most attorneys will advise public officials to not comment on allegations.
“If you’re a public official, that doesn’t sit well with people because people feel they’re entitled to answers,” Meehan said. “There’s an assault on his integrity that he doesn’t have the right to get up and answer. He doesn’t have any control.”
Lauretti returned a call Friday evening and said he was frustrated about the trial.
“It’s conjecture. It’s personal,” Lauretti said.
Read more from that interview here.
Should Lauretti address every specific allegation being thrown at him?
“I think Lauretti is doing what he wants to do,” Simonetti said. “He’s waiting to see if this whole things blows by because there’s no substance to it. Why should he, of all people, say anything? If (the federal agents) want to speak to him, they know where to find him.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. States Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case. In the past, the government officials have only said the investigation is ongoing.
