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12.14.2001 00:23
Judge keeping affidavit sealed
• Responding to a request from The Journal, a judge says the statement seeking search warrants of City Hall is "written in a uniquely inflammatory style."
BY W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- The federal judge assigned to the corruption trial of Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. and five others has rejected an attempt by The Providence Journal to unseal an affidavit, saying that its release could jeopardize the rights of the accused to a fair trial.
In his ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres was sharply critical of the government for including sensational material in the sworn statement that, if released, could create "a circus-like atmosphere," and poison a potential jury pool.
Torres wrote that he has seen few affidavits more prejudicial than the one in question, saying it "is written in a uniquely inflammatory style."
"It has a storybook format and is liberally interspersed with evocative headings and characterizations," he wrote.
Among the headings cited in the judge's decision: "Money Laundering Needs to be Done Right," "The Only Thing Cianci Worries About is Money," and "Corrente: Absolutely They Know What the [expletive] I Mean."
Corrente is former Cianci aide Frank Corrente.
Torres also noted that the affidavit is critical of people who have never been criminally charged and attributes other allegations to anonymous sources and third parties. In some cases, he wrote, it describes "what defendants were thinking."
"The inclusion of such superfluous statements is the principal reason that the affidavit is an unprecedented 95 pages long," he wrote. "Most of these hearsay statements, opinions, and conclusions are highly prejudicial and would be inadmissable at trial."
Torres said that there is nothing that bars the government from including this information in its affidavit, but he said it's his duty to decide whether the information could prejudice a pool of potential jurors.
Tom Connell, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Curran, declined to comment.
Joel P. Rawson, The Journal's executive editor, disagreed with Torres's decision to keep the affidavit sealed.
"When you get to the core of the judge's argument, you find that he's saying the prosecutor's affidavit is so flimsy and so inflammatory, it can't stand the light of day," Rawson said. "We in journalism believe that is the precise reason it should be exposed to the light of day."
Cianci and five others facing corruption charges have opposed the release of the affidavit written by FBI Special Agent W. Dennis Aiken, the lead agent in Operation Plunder Dome, the federal investigation into City Hall corruption. The affidavit was filed more than two years ago in support of the government's request for search warrants of City Hall.
A federal judge declined The Journal's motion to release the affidavit in 1999, after federal prosecutors objected that it would compromise an ongoing criminal investigation.
Now, after a trial, six convictions and six indictments, the government had dropped its opposition to the affidavit's release, saying that the matters discussed are no longer under investigation.
Last June, prompted by The Journal's motion to unseal the affidavit, Torres listened to arguments from the team of lawyers defending Cianci, Corrente and their codefendants as well as lawyers for the newspaper and the government.
The arguments focused on whether publicizing the affidavit would compromise the defendants' Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, or whether keeping it sealed would frustrate the public's First Amendment right to an open justice system.
After the discourse, which ran for more than an hour, Torres said he would issue a written decision in a few weeks. A few weeks turned to a few months.
He issued his ruling on Wednesday.
Torres wrote that the defendants' right to a fair trial outweighed the newspaper's "temporary restriction" to the affidavit.
"This court finds that keeping the affidavit under seal, at least until the time of trial, is the only reasonable means available to ensure that such prejudice does not occur and that the defendants' right to a fair trial is adequately protected," Torres wrote.
A tentative trial date has been set for April.
Cianci, Corrente, and the other defendants, Artin H. Coloian, Cianci's top aide; Richard E. Autiello, who runs a car and towing garage; Edward E. Voccola, a felon who had a lucrative lease with the School Department; and Joseph A. Pannone, head of the city's Board of Tax Assessment Review, have all pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
Pannone is serving a five-year federal prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to other charges stemming from the corruption probe.
Torres has a history of being a stickler about pretrial publicity. Soon after he was assigned to the case, he issued a gag order prohibiting discussion and disclosure of evidence outside the courtroom.
A few months ago, Torres sanctioned Asst. U.S. Attorney Richard W. Rose, the lead prosecutor in the case, for playing for his sister and two friends a secretly recorded videotape involving an alleged bribe.
Torres also appointed a special prosecutor to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against whoever provided Channel 10 (WJAR-TV) with a copy of that videotape.
Among those who have been subpoenaed is John DePetro, a talk-show host on WHJJ-AM radio. He is fighting the subpoena.
The special prosecutor has not concluded his investigation.
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