PROVIDENCE -- Former CVS executives John R. "Jack" Kramer and Carlos Ortiz have been cleared of charges that they tried bribing former state Sen. John Celona to win favor in the State House for the Woonsocket-based drugstore chain.

Journal photo / Bill Murphy

Former CVS executive John R. "Jack" Kramer leaves the courthouse after he and co-defendant Carlos Ortiz, also a former CVS executive, were speedily cleared of all charges.

The jury of eight men and four women reached their verdict in less than two hours, clearing them of all 23 charges lodged against each defendant. Jurors got the case at 10:35 this morning after receiving instructs from Chief U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi.

Some in the courtroom sighed with relief as the not-guilty verdicts in the high-profile case were quickly read around 12:15 p.m.

After the verdict, trial participants, reporters, family and friends gathered outside the federal courthouse.

Descending the steps into a pleasant, blue-sky afternoon, Kramer, 75, wearing a dark suit, clapped his hands once or twice, then waved his arms, motioning a dozen or so waiting reporters forward.

Kramer said he could not believe what he had been through. "This has been an unfair, unjust prosecution," he said.

Journal photo / Bill Murphy

Former CVS executive Carlos Ortiz leaves U.S. District Court having been found not guilty on all charges. With Ortiz is his wife, Jan.

He added that “frankly, it was my faith that carried me through this.”

Kramer said he had put his life on hold for 3 ½ to 4 years, and now, “You’re like, ‘Now what?’”

He said he didn’t have an answer to that question yet.

CVS%2002%20BM.JPG Journal photo / Bill Murphy Ortiz reacts to a question outside the courthouse.

Ortiz, 64, also clad in a dark suit, left the courthouse to the applause of family members and friends.

But his wife, Jan, said, "I'm not real happy with the government for putting together this sham of a case."

Ortiz himself declined to characterize the government's case after his wife spoke.

Both men thanked their lawyers.

Asked if he was disappointed by the verdict, U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente said, "Well, that's the way the system works, so we'll go on from here."

Asked what went wrong, he said: “I’m not sure anything went wrong.”

The verdict follows a three-week trial in U.S. District Court, Providence. Kramer and Ortiz were each charged with 1 count of conspiracy to commit honest-services mail fraud, 21 counts of honest-services mail fraud and 1 count of bribery.

The government's star witness was Celona, who is serving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges that he sold his office to CVS, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and Roger Williams Medical Center.

Reporters' questions after the verdict centered in part on Celona's effectiveness as a witness.

Scott Corrigan, one of Kramer's lawyers, reflecting on the swifly delivered verdict, said of Celona in the trial: "You can see for yourself what kind of a witness he was.”

Celona spent four days on the witness stand, but for three of those days, he was under cross-examination, and defense attorneys pointed out inconsistencies in his testimony.

Celona testified how he came to be hired as a consultant by CVS, how he did the company’s legislative bidding while neglecting the other duties spelled out in his consulting agreement, and how he concealed the arrangement because he didn’t want the public to think he had switched sides on pharmacy-choice legislation because CVS was paying him.

CVS was opposed to the pharmacy-choice legislation.

But on cross-examination Celona was confronted with evidence that he had cheated on his taxes, failed to correct tax problems as promised in his plea agreement with prosecutors and lied to the authorities more times than he could remember.

The defense rested without calling any witnesses. Neither Kramer, nor Ortiz took the stand to explain why CVS hired Celona, a state senator from North Providence, as a $1,000-a-month consultant from 2000 to 2003.

In closing arguments over five hours yesterday, the prosecution argued that Celona abused his political office for CVS’ gain, at the behest of Kramer and Ortiz.

The defense countered that Celona was hired for legitimate purposes, promoting CVS charities on his cable-access television show –– work that was permissible under Rhode Island law defining the state’s “citizen legislator” form of government.

After the verdict, CVS issued a statement this afternoon, saying the company "believes that the judicial process has produced a fair and just outcome.

"Today’s verdict is consistent with the company’s long-held view that Mr. Kramer and Mr. Ortiz had not engaged in criminal conduct. We are pleased for these two men and their families that this long and painful ordeal has ended," the statement said.

U.S. Attorney Corrente said his office would continue with its investigation into corruption at the State House, "Operation Dollar Bill."

"If anyone thinks were going away, we're not," Corrente said.