PROVIDENCE — The defense in ex-Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan F. Oster’s bribery and conspiracy trial yesterday tried to use one of the state’s witnesses to suggest it might have been another town official — not Oster — who was conspiring to harass and shake down a playground contractor in 2001.

In his testimony Wednesday, contractor David Wayne Daniel described how in the early summer of 2001, town officials had been on his work site daily, inspecting, criticizing and countermanding orders. He said after he paid then-Planning Board member and Oster fundraiser Robert R. Picerno $4,750 cash, supposedly for 100 Oster fundraising tickets, the harassment stopped.

In 2004, Picerno pleaded no contest to four counts of bribery and three counts of conspiracy.

Oster is facing two counts of bribery and two counts of conspiracy involving alleged bribes he and Picerno are said to have sought from potential buyers of a piece of town-controlled land. Oster is not facing any charges in connection with the handling of the contract to renovate and improve Fairlawn Playground, but Associate Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia ruled that the state could use it to try to show a pattern of behavior by Picerno and Oster.

Under questioning by defense lawyer C. Leonard O’Brien, Daniel described Oster as cordial in their meetings on the matter. It was after the meetings, when town employees returned to the Fairlawn site, that things would deteriorate again, he said.

Daniel said the most frequent and troublesome visitor to the site was Stephen Balestra, coordinator for the federal funds that were paying for the work and who was the town’s designated point man for the approximately $150,000 project. Daniel said the harassment stopped in late July, after he paid Picerno the cash.

O’Brien used his questioning to suggest it was Balestra, not Oster, who was working with Picerno to make Daniel’s life on the site difficult. Daniel told how Balestra was repeatedly questioning workers and threatening to pull Daniel’s insurance bond, a move that would make difficult or even impossible Daniel’s attempts at getting insurance for other projects.

O’Brien sought to counter the impression that the town employees were harassing Daniel at Oster’s behest. Daniel testified that in meetings with Oster, Oster was always cordial; that it was Balestra and others who were aggressive. He told of the three straight Friday morning meetings in Oster’s office when Balestra and other town officers were “jumping on my back.”

Daniel said he was afraid to tell Oster about his problems with Balestra for fear Balestra would retaliate. He said he was finally able to talk to Oster without Balestra present on July 20, 2001. It was after that week that Balestra eased off, Daniel said.

On July 23, 2001, the Monday after the third of those meetings, Picerno showed up at the site, took out a pack of Oster fundraiser tickets worth $5,000 and asked if Daniel could take care of them.

“I said ‘If you can get those …guys off my back,’ ” Daniel said he told Picerno. “He said ‘No problem.’ ”

O’Brien said Daniel thought the tickets were a cover for a cash bribe.

“You tested him, by giving him a check,” O’Brien said. “You though he just wanted cash.”

Daniel said Picerno turned down the check.

“He said, “I want that in the nicer way,’ ” Daniel said, meaning Picerno wanted cash.

The project was troubled before it started. The contract stipulated that Daniel was supposed to get state wetlands permits before starting the work. But the application documents Daniel sent to the state were mistakenly sent back to the town and no one passed them on to Daniel. Getting the permit pushed work back by about a month.

Daniel’s partner on the project, Robert Gelfuso, also testified. It was Gelfuso who spurred the state investigation after he reported Picerno’s playground shakedown to state police. Gelfuso is one of the developers Oster is accused of soliciting a bribe from and the contractor had several tape-recorded conversations with Picerno, one of which was played for the jury yesterday.

Gelfuso was expected to resume testifying Monday.

jhill@projo.com