The lawyer for convicted Shelton developer James Botti filed a document detailing why his client should receive a new trial.
In court papers filed Dec. 1, William Dow III writes that the government simply didn’t prove its case and the testimony of several witnesses should not have been allowed.
Therefore, Dow said, the two guilty verdicts handed down by a jury in federal court last month should be tossed.
Botti was found guilty of structuring money — that is, depositing cash in banks in a pattern of less than $10,000, avoiding a mandatory bank notification to the Internal Revenue Service. He was also found guilty of conspiracy to structure money.
However, Dow argues that testimony from Botti’s accountant shows that Botti knew that cash deposits of more than $10,000 would trigger a report to the IRS — and that Botti was also aware that multiple cash deposits would also trigger IRS interest.
How argues this knowledge shows there was no intent to structure money in an illegal manner. Botti wasn’t trying to hide anything, Dow argues.
Dow also argues that allowing the testimony of a few of Botti’s “vendors,” that is, people he hired to do masonry work and other jobs, wasn’t fair.
The witnesses testified Botti paid them in cash — as much as $65,000 in cash.
However, that’s not illegal, Dow argues — and had nothing to do with the government’s case against Botti.
In a second document filed Dec. 2, Dow asks the court to allow Botti, who is free on bond, to travel to New York City this month “to meet with a resident of the North Pole who is believed to be in the United States on a temporary work permit and is employed at Macy’s department store.”
A source said Botti is meeting with Santa, but we were unable to confirm by presstime.
