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4.21.2001 00:05
Prosecution may seek Egbert's ouster
• The government asks for more time to determine whether it will object to Richard M. Egbert acting as defense lawyer in the mayor's corruption trial.
BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- After weeks of pummeling by the defense, the government in Operation Plunder Dome is going on the attack.
The U.S. Attorney's office says it wants a few more days to decide whether it will object to a motion filed by Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. to let Boston lawyer Richard M. Egbert represent him in his multi-count corruption indictment.
In papers filed in U.S. District Court late yesterday, prosecutors said they wanted until Tuesday to decide whether they will object to Egbert's representation of Cianci "based on possible conflicts of interest."
Egbert said last night that he has already been given permission to represent Cianci by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Lovegreen and that the government had been given until yesterday to file an objection seeking to disqualify him.
"They are now seeking an extension. Now let them take their best shot," Egbert said. "I don't understand their filing, quite frankly."
Egbert was hired by the City of Providence a year ago -- at Cianci's recommendation -- to represent the city in a yet-to-be filed civil rights/wrongful death lawsuit by the estate of slain Providence police officer Cornel Young Jr. Young's mother, Leisa Young, is seeking $20 million in damages from the city. She is represented by Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.
The city has already paid Egbert $25,388 for his services in connection with the Young matter.
More recently, after Cianci was sued last fall by a city planner who was suspended briefly from his job after disclosing that he had paid a $5,000 bribe to get hired -- an allegation which is now part of the criminal case against the mayor -- Cianci hired Egbert to represent him, at the city's expense. Egbert charged the city $525 per hour for his services defending against the civil racketeering and whistleblower's suit brought by senior City Planner Christopher J. Ise. His total in that case came to $31,238.
City Solicitor Charles R. Mansolillo gave Cianci the go-ahead to hire Egbert to defend him in the Ise suit. Mansolillo said he had a conflict of interest in representing the mayor since he and the city were named as codefendants in the suit, as were two of Cianci's top aides, Artin H. Coloian and Frank E. Corrente.
Although Egbert has represented a host of prominent criminal defendants in state and federal court here, he is not a member of the Rhode Island bar. Therefore, each time he enters his appearance in a case in a Rhode Island court, he must seek permission to represent a client "pro hac vice," a Latin term that means "for this one case." The federal court in Rhode Island is one of about a half-dozen federal courts in the country that require lawyers who want to practice there to pass a special written exam. Otherwise, they must seek permission to enter a case pro hac vice each time they represent a client here.
Based on his experience practicing law in his home state of Massachusetts and elsewhere, Egbert -- who is considered by many to be one of the top criminal defense lawyers in the Northeast -- has routinely been granted such permission by judges in Rhode Island courts, both state and federal, although judges have usually required him to have a local lawyer enter an appearance in the case as well. In the Operation Plunder Dome case, Edward J. Romano serves as the local lawyer representing Cianci.
"I've tried cases in a couple dozen federal courts and a couple dozen state courts around the country," Egbert said. No judge has ever denied his request to represent a client pro hac vice, he said.
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