02:25 PM EDT on Thursday, April 7, 2005

BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Channel 10 reporter Jim Taricani will be freed from his sentence of home confinement Saturday morning.

Acting on a petition for early release filed last Friday by lawyers for the reporter, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres late yesterday agreed to pare two months from Taricani's six-month sentence, saying he was satisfied that Taricani had "fully complied with both the letter and spirit of the conditions of his home confinement."

"It is hereby ordered that Mr. Taricani be discharged from supervision effective April 9, 2005, and that the proceedings in this case, thereupon, be terminated," the judge said in a three-paragraph order.

The 55-year-old reporter has been confined to his North Kingstown home since Dec. 9, when Torres sentenced him to six months' probation, on home confinement, for defying a court order to reveal who illegally gave him a secret FBI videotape that showed a Providence official taking a bribe.

In sentencing Taricani, Torres invited him to apply for "early termination" of his sentence after four months if he was diligent about adhering to the strict conditions of his home confinement. The four months will be up Saturday.

Taricani's wife, Laurie White, president-elect of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, said she and her husband plan to spend the weekend in New York City, a trip they had planned but had to postpone at Christmastime.

"We'll leave at sunrise and take full advantage of the day," she told The Providence Journal shortly after Torres' order was issued.

"We'll be having Christmas in April."

Asked what she and Taricani wanted to do in New York, White said they would probably take in a visit to the new Museum of Modern Art, get tickets to at least one Broadway musical and make reservations for some nice meals. "He likes to watch Bobby Flay on the Food Network," White said of her husband, who enjoys cooking. "He [Flay] has several restaurants in New York."

White said she also looked forward to taking some relaxing strolls in Manhattan. "I know he'll enjoy just having a change of scenery and just being outdoors. We like to walk the streets of New York City and people watch."

Taricani was convicted of criminal contempt for refusing to abide by Torres' order to identify who gave him the secret videotape, in violation of a court order which prohibited its dissemination before the Operation Plunder Dome trial. The FBI probe into corruption at Providence City Hall eventually led to the conviction of former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.; his top aide, Frank E. Corrente, who was captured on the secret tape taking bribe money; and a third defendant, Richard E. Autiello, a tow-truck operator who was a political fundraiser for Cianci.

Six days after Taricani was found guilty, his "confidential" source, defense lawyer Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., admitted under oath that he had given Taricani the tape.

Bevilacqua, who had represented Plunder Dome defendant Joseph A. Pannone, had previously denied under oath that he had been Taricani's source and is now the subject of a criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office for giving Taricani the tape and for lying about being the reporter's source.

The Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel is also conducting its own investigation of Bevilacqua, which could result in the loss of his license to practice.

The case of Taricani, a veteran investigative reporter who works for NBC affiliate WJAR-TV, attracted national attention amid other judicial efforts to expose reporters' confidential sources.

While in home confinement, Taricani, a heart transplant recipient with a pacemaker, has not been allowed to leave his house for any reason except to visit doctors. He can't give interviews, use the Internet or even go to the curb to fetch his mail. His visiting hours have been from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m.

His wife said yesterday that Taricani has been out of their house only three times since Dec. 9 -- twice for trips to visit his doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital's transplant and heart failure unit, on Dec. 21 and March 21, and on Tuesday of this week, for an emergency visit to a dentist.

Asked how Taricani has spent his time confined inside their home, White said he's kept up "a very bland schedule" but has found that the days pass faster by keeping to a regimen. "He's up by 6:30 every morning," she said, and keeps to a schedule involving exercise, doing yoga, reading, and writing fiction "which has nothing to do with his case."

"He's read about 35 books," White said, and works out every day on his treadmill "to maintain his fitness and rehabilitation."

Channel 10, which has paid Taricani his full salary since he's been in home confinement -- as well as his legal fees and about $85,000 in fines before Torres turned the civil-contempt case into one for criminal contempt -- said in a statement issued last evening that it was "extremely pleased" that Torres had granted the early-release petition. "We look forward to Jim's return to work in the near future and to his continued contributions to NBC10," the statement said.

Clare Eckert, spokesperson for Channel 10, said that as of last night, no date had been set for Taricani's return to work.

Tracy Breton can be reached at tbreton [at] projo.com or 277-7362.