Molly K. Cote “really put her heart and soul into this case and that really shined through,” says Bethany Macktaz, deputy chief of the attorney general’s criminal division.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

PROVIDENCE — The young prosecutor in the crisp skirt and pressed jacket strayed from the lectern for her closing argument last week in the inmate abuse trial of two ranking officers at the Adult Correctional Institutions. After three weeks of often graphic testimony, Molly K. Cote, a special assistant attorney general, had an hour to convince the jurors one last time that the defendants were guilty of assaulting and humiliating the inmates for petty infractions.

She wasted little time getting the jury’s attention. She unleashed a series of one word profanities and demeaning characterizations that Capt. Gualter Botas and Lt. Kenneth J. Viveiros used to humiliate four inmates in minimum security.

“I wanted to put the jurors in the victims’ shoes,” said Cote. “I didn’t want to be over the top, but I wanted to be effective. Those words are important because I have to show criminal intent. Those words show criminal intent.”

Cote built a convincing case. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for less than four hours before returning a clean sweep — guilty verdicts on all 11 counts of simple assault and battery against the officers.

Botas and Viveiros, who remain free on personal recognizance pending their sentencing, face up to a year in prison on each count. Cote said that she hasn’t given much thought to what she might recommend, but she may ask Judge Daniel A. Procaccini for jail time. “It’s something that I’m considering,” she said.

A sentencing date is expected to be set next month.

The victory was notable for Cote, who at 32 years old was trying her first major case in Superior Court. It also was significant because it’s extremely unusual for prosecutors in state or federal courts in Rhode Island to convince juries to return guilty verdicts against corrections officers or police officers accused of brutality or wrongdoing.

The case against Botas and Viveiros was largely built on the testimony of witnesses with lengthy criminal records who had spent time in prison. Cote’s challenge was to prove to the jury that the troubled inmates are human beings who were captives of sadistic officers who repeatedly abused them and violated state law.

The victims and other former inmates were wary of the criminal justice system and they were reluctant to come forward. Cote had to convince them that their rights were violated and that the corrections officers had to be brought to justice.

During the trial, Cote often had to pry emotional testimony from the victims who said the officers tormented them about past sexual assaults or threatened to sodomize them if they failed to provide them with answers.

Bethany Macktaz, deputy chief of the attorney general’s criminal division, was impressed with Cote’s court demeanor and her lengthy closing argument.

“She was passionate when she needed it,” she said. “She really put her heart and soul into this case and that really shined through. The jurors responded to what she had to say.”

Lawyer John D. Lynch Jr., of Warwick, who defended Botas and waged battle with Cote, commended her as a worthy adversary.

“She is very aggressive, but stays within the bounds,” he said. “She gets her point across and she does it well. I thought she handled herself very well.”

Lynch and his family have known Cote for years. Her uncle, Dan Kapstein, was Lynch’s football coach at Toll Gate High School in Warwick, and his sister, Tricia, back when she was a student at Boston College, baby-sat Molly. Another sister, Erin, has been good friends with Cote for years.

Lynch said that his father, John D. Lynch, a prominent Rhode Island defense lawyer, has been lifelong friends with Cote’s uncle, Jeremy Kapstein, a senior adviser for the Boston Red Sox. Kapstein, once one of the top sports agents in the country, can be seen most nights in the crowd behind home plate at Fenway Park.

In an interview in a conference room at the attorney general’s office, Cote was guarded and reluctant to reveal much about her personal life. She was recently married and took her husband’s last name, but she refused to disclose his first name or what he does for a living.

Originally from Newton, Mass., a suburb of Boston, Molly Kapstein-Bronitsky earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She returned home and earned a law degree from Suffolk University in Boston.

She landed in Rhode Island and spent a year as a clerk for Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein.

In 2003, she joined the attorney general’s office and began her career as a prosecutor. She handled drunken driving refusals in the state Traffic Tribunal Court before she moved to District Court to prosecute misdemeanor crimes such as assault, drug offenses and vandalism.

In February 2006, ACI Director A.T. Wall held a news conference on the prison grounds to announce that nine guards and prison personnel had been suspended for abusing or failing to report the abuse of inmates in the prison’s minimum security unit.

Union representatives from the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers blasted Wall and his administration for rushing to judgment and siding with the inmates, who they said were seeking revenge against the officers.

In the days following the announcement, several inmates came forward and provided statements to a team of internal investigators and state police detectives.

A few months later, Botas and Viveiros were charged with the most egregious crimes.

Kapstein-Bronitsky was assigned the sensitive case, knowing that it’s always difficult to press cases against members of law enforcement. She was ready for the challenge.

In early 2007, Kapstein-Bronitsky successful prosecuted the case against the officers in District Court.

Judge Madeline Quirk found Botas and Viveiros guilty of simple assault on one of the inmates, Jose Gonzalez. She ruled that the ex-inmate’s testimony was “rich in detail,” and she was troubled by Gonzalez’s allegations that the guards stripped him and taunted him.

They appealed their verdicts to Superior Court and went to trial on charges that they abused Gonzalez and three other former inmates. This time it was the same prosecutor in a more complex case before a jury, but the outcome was the same — guilty.

“I listened to the state police and I reviewed the investigation,” she said. “The bottom line is that these guys broke the law. It was just like any other criminal case.”

bmalinow@projo.com