NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - John Haggerty, the Republican
operative convicted of stealing nearly $1 million from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his 2009 reelection
campaign was sentenced to between one-and-a-third and four
years in prison Monday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
A jury found Haggerty guilty of second-degree larceny and
money laundering following a high-profile four-week trial in
October, but acquitted him of a more serious larceny charge.
In a brief statement to the court before his sentencing,
Haggerty said he "deeply" regretted his actions.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office
had accused Haggerty of soliciting $1.1 million in funds from
the billionaire mayor to pay for an extensive poll-watching
operation that never occurred. Instead, they claimed, Haggerty
used the bulk of the money he received to buy his childhood
home in Queens.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of four to 12 years in
prison, but Haggerty's defense lawyers, Raymond Castello and
Dennis Vacco, spoke passionately for more than an hour,
imploring Justice Ronald Zweibel to impose probation and
community service for what they said was an "isolated"
incident. They also submitted more than 40 letters from friends
in support of Haggerty's character.
Haggerty has already agreed to sell the home in Queens and
return the stolen funds, lawyers on both sides said Monday.
The sentencing arguments were unusually lengthy, with Vacco
telling the judge about Haggerty's estranged relationship with
his father and Castello offering a discourse on criminal
sentencing. At one point, the normally soft-spoken Assistant
District Attorney Eric Seidel took offense when Castello
interrupted him and shouted at Castello to let him finish.
BLOOMBERG QUESTIONED ON STAND
The trial provided a rare sight, as Bloomberg himself --
along with a parade of his most trusted aides, most of whom
have held powerful positions in City Hall -- took the stand to
testify against Haggerty.
Under aggressive questioning from Haggerty's lawyers,
Bloomberg maintained his composure but was forced to discuss
the spending on his self-financed $105-million campaign, a
topic he generally prefers to avoid.
Haggerty's lawyers sought to paint their client as a
scapegoat for a win-at-all-costs mayor who did not care whether
the poll-watching operation took place, as long as he stayed in
power.
They also suggested that the mayor's decision to funnel the
money through the Independence Party, rather than paying
Haggerty directly, was an attempt to hide its role in paying
for poll watching, which Democrats have criticized in the past
as a form of voter suppression.
By voluntarily giving the money to the party, the lawyers
argued, the mayor had effectively given up control of it, and
therefore could not be a victim of theft.
Prosecutors asserted that the mayor and his aides would
never have signed off on the expenditure without assurances
from Haggerty that it would fund an Election Day operation.
They pointed to a budget Haggerty proposed that included 1,355
poll watchers, a document that Seidel labeled "pure fiction"
during the trial.
LAWYERS PLAN APPEAL OF CONVICTION
Several jurors said after the trial that the money trail
prosecutors established -- including funds from the
Independence Party to Haggerty that were then wired as payments
on the house on the same day -- was compelling evidence of
Haggerty's guilt. But they said the fact that Haggerty only
ended up with $750,000 of the mayor's money prompted them to
return a not-guilty verdict on the top charge, which requires a
theft of at least $1 million.
The Independence Party has also agreed to forfeit $150,000
of the funds, Seidel said Monday, though it will not have to
return approximately $200,000 it had already spent at the time
of Haggerty's indictment. Zweibel criticized prosecutors for
failing to secure the entire amount, but Seidel said that
arrangement was the best possible deal.
Haggerty was taken into custody after the sentencing, but
his planned to appeal his conviction Monday in the Appellate
Division, First Department. They said they would ask for bail
pending the appeal.
The case is People v. Haggerty, New York State Supreme
Court, New York County, No. 2598/2010.
For the prosecution: Assistant District Attorneys Eric
Seidel, Vanessa Richards and Brian Weinberg.
For Haggerty: Raymond Castello of Shaub, Ahmuty, Citrin, &
Spratt and Dennis Vacco of Lippes, Mathias, Wexler, Friedman.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax)
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