8.14.2001 00:12
Cianci can have lawyer he wants
• The mayor secures Richard Egbert as his lawyer after Cianci and three of Egbert's former clients agree to relinquish certain legal rights.

PROVIDENCE — The Operation Plunder Dome saga surrounding the city's indicted mayor inched forward in federal court yesterday as Vincent A. Cianci Jr. secured his right to be defended by his lawyer of choice, Richard M. Egbert, despite government objection.

"I'm very confident with the decision," Cianci said afterward of the ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres. "I just know that Mr. Egbert is a very thorough attorney."

Although Torres ruled last month that Egbert could represent Cianci in his corruption trial, that ruling carried certain caveats.

The mayor and three of Egbert's former clients — who include two of Cianci's co-defendants and a potential key government witness — had to agree yesterday to waive certain legal rights, even though Judge Torres said those waivers carried risks.

Cianci waived his Sixth Amendment right to "conflict-free counsel," and his right to an appeal based on any unfavorable "repercussions" of having Egbert represent him.

"I have absolutely no doubt — I am confident about waiving my right to a conflict-free counsel," Cianci told Torres during the hour-long hearing. "I read the bench decision; I sat through the hearing this morning, and I have spoken with my attorney," Mark L. Smith, of North Smithfield.

Cianci's chief of staff, Artin H. Coloian, and convicted felon Edward E. Voccola, who are co-defendants in the corruption case, and Voccola's daughter, Patricia A. Forte — the potential government witness — waived their attorney-client privilege as required under Torres's ruling.

Outlining foreseeable risks, Torres told the three that "it may be in Mayor Cianci's interests to attack your credibility . . . perhaps by using information [Egbert] obtained by previously representing you."

Specifically, Torres told Coloian, "Mr. Cianci could blame you . . . that's a way Mr. Egbert's representation could be adverse to you."

Coloian, 36, who hobbled in and out of court on crutches with one foot in a cast, said he had used Egbert for pretrial services only, and that he did not believe there was anything prejudicial in that meeting. He said he was waiving his attorney-client privilege voluntarily.

"The same for Mr. Voccola?" Torres asked.

"Yes, I do," Voccola replied.

Forte, 46, while working at her father's real-estate company, Jere Realty, had been represented by Egbert at a hearing at which she invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination regarding accounting she had done for her father.

The judge told her yesterday that her waiver "would permit him [Egbert] to reveal the information, and use it against you." Forte said she understood.

Cianci drew a laugh when Torres asked him whether he knew that the court would appoint a public defender "if money is a problem."

"That may be a possibility, your honor," Cianci joked, but not just yet.

TORRES'S RULING last month also specified that Egbert could continue to represent Cianci as long as Egbert agreed not to represent the City of Providence in any other cases.

Those include the lawsuit filed by Leisa Young, mother of slain police Sgt. Cornel Young Jr., for which Egbert had done some legal work for the city.

Cianci, Coloian, Voccola, and three other people have pleaded innocent to federal corruption charges stemming from the FBI's Plunder Dome investigation of City Hall. The mayor and his aides are charged with demanding bribes for city contracts and jobs, and using Cianci's campaign fund to hide the money.

Coloian is charged with bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery, but is the only defendant not charged with racketeering.

Voccola, 72, is accused of paying kickbacks for a $1.3-million contract to rent his former auto-body garage to the School Department. In April, a magistrate judge ordered Voccola to remain on home confinement in Cranston pending trial, based on a pattern of alleged witness intimidation in past cases.

Yesterday's hearing marked Asst. U.S. Atty. Richard W. Rose's first appearance in court since June 26, when Torres suspended him from the Plunder Dome case for 30 days, and fined him $500, for having played a secretly recorded FBI videotape for his sister and two friends.

On that day, Rose first apologized to the court for his lapse in judgment. He hurriedly left the courtroom immediately after Torres had issued his penalties. Yesterday, Rose reiterated the government's objections to Egbert's representing Cianci because of potential conflicts of interest.

THE HEARING strayed from the predictable when Torres asked Coloian, Forte, and Voccola if they had any physical impairments.

"I can't see, your honor," Voccola replied.

"You can't see?" Torres asked.

"No," Voccola replied.

Torres: "What is your vision impairment?"

Voccola: "I can't read without thick glasses."

Torres: "Can you understand English all right?" the judge inquired.

Voccola: "Yes."

When the issue of Voccola's health had come up in April, prosecutor Rose said that Voccola's medical problems were not as severe as Voccola's lawyer would say.

Rose said that FBI agents who had Voccola under surveillance on the day he was indicted witnessed Voccola driving numerous times between Cranston and Providence.

— With reports from the Associated Press.