Betsy Combier
Editor, Courtbeat
 |
| Sheldon Silver |
Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been convicted of
bribery and extortion charges in a federal corruption trial that increased
scrutiny of politicians in Albany, where power has long been concentrated in
the hands of the Assembly speaker, the Senate president and the governor.
The jury
handed down its decision Monday, less than a month after the powerful 71-year-old
Democrat's trial began.
Silver said nothing as the verdict on each count was read in the
Manhattan courtroom, his head bowed slightly and a somber expression on his
face. The judge polled each juror to confirm their verdict.
Silver faces
up to 20 years in prsion, although that sentence is unlikely. It's expected he
will appeal the verdict immediately.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement "SheldonSilver got justice, and at long last, so did the people of New
York."
Silver, who
served as the speaker of the assembly for more than 20 years, was arrested in late January and is accused of collecting around $4
million in bribes and kickbacks since 2002, using his law license and lax New
York disclosure laws to disguise the profits as referral fees.
The lawmaker quit his speaker post after his arrest but retained
his Assembly seat. Neither Silver nor his attorneys could immediately be
reached for comment on the verdict.
There was some drama when jury
deliberations began last Tuesday when a juror claimed that
other jurors accused her of failing to use her common sense, leaving her
feeling "very, very uncomfortable."
"I'm
feeling pressured, stressed out," the juror wrote in a note to U.S.
District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan as she asked to be excused from
further deliberations.
In
her note, the juror said she had a different opinion and view than other jurors
"and it is making me feel very, very uncomfortable."
"My
heart is pounding and my head feels weird," she said. "I am so
stressed out right now that I can't even write normally. I don't feel like I
can be myself right now! I need to leave!"
After
a prosecutor recommended she be released as a juror, the judge said it was too
early to do so, and said she would urge jurors to respectfully exchange views.
"Listen
to and exchange views with your other jurors," Caproni said she would tell
them.
The
judge said she was further convinced that patience was the best remedy when
another note emerged from jurors shortly afterward. In it, the jurors asked if
there was a code of conduct or ethics code that clearly stated whether
receiving funds for something in return is illegal.
"It
seems there is some deliberation going on," the judge told lawyers.
"It's too early to throw in the towel."
In
all, 31 lawmakers have been convicted of crimes or have left public service
amid allegations of ethical misconduct since 2000, according to a tally kept by
the good-government group Citizens Union.
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