BOSTON — The former president of Roger Williams Medical Center, and another ex-hospital executive facing federal jail time for corruption, argued in appeals court yesterday to overturn their convictions for paying a state senator to advance the hospital’s agenda.

Lawyers for Robert A. Urciuoli, the former president and chief executive officer of Roger Williams, and Frances P. Driscoll, a former senior vice president, told a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the jury that convicted the executives had received faulty instructions from the judge, which may have created an impression that legitimate conduct was against the law.

Urciuoli was found guilty in October 2006 of conspiracy and 35 counts of mail fraud for hiring John A. Celona, then a state senator, to advance the hospital’s legislative agenda. Driscoll was convicted of one count of mail fraud. Urciuoli was sentenced to three years in prison; Driscoll was sentenced to eight months. Both want their convictions voided.

The appeals court has permitted Urciuoli and Driscoll to remain free pending the outcome of their appeals, saying the defense had raised “substantial questions of law” about the instructions U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres gave the jurors before their deliberations.

The instructions may have contributed to convictions for “conduct that may not be criminal,” argued Driscoll’s lawyer, John A. “Terry” MacFadyen.

Arguing for the prosecution yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald C. Lockhart said that case law supports the jury instructions Torres provided.

Celona is the former chairman of the Senate Corporations Committee, which is influential on health-care legislation. The position was the apex of his political career, though the North Providence Democrat had appeared poised to reach even higher. He received statewide exposure in 2003 as cochairman of the committee that overhauled the state fire code after The Station nightclub disaster, and was considered a potential candidate for lieutenant governor.

Then came his fall: under suspicion of corruption, Celona resigned from the Assembly in March 2004. He later pleaded guilty to selling his influence to Roger Williams, the CVS drugstore chain and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and is serving a 2½-year federal prison term. He faces an additional 18 months in state prison after he finishes serving the federal sentence.

Celona was hired in 1998 as a consultant for an assisted-living facility and nursing home affiliated with Roger Williams. Prosecutors contend Celona’s job was a front to pay him for political favors — in total more than $260,000.

The defense argued that Celona’s job — recruiting residents to an assisted-living center that was partly owned by Roger Williams — was legitimate.

And Urciuoli and Driscoll argue that Torres mistakenly told the jury that, in deciding whether the hospital executives stole Celona’s honest services, they could consider any work Celona performed on Roger Williams’ behalf “under the cloak of his office,” whether part of his legislative duties or not.

The judges yesterday peppered the lawyers with questions about the “official” duties of a lawmaker, and on fine points of existing case law.

The defense also argued that Rhode Island law recognizes that members of a part-time legislature are going to run into conflicts-of-interest. It is legal, MacFadyen said, for a citizen, such as Driscoll, to communicate on government matters with Celona, despite his consulting job.

marsenau@projo.com