He’s accused of taking more than $20,000 in bribes, but Assemblyman Eric Stevenson claims he can’t get a “fair trial” because US Attorney Preet Bharara told an Albany panel that guys like him shouldn’t get a pension.
Stevenson wants his January public corruption trial moved outside the Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan, Bronx and Westchester.
Despite his indictment, which attracted wide media coverage, Stevenson claims Bharara is trying the case “in the court of public opinion,” referring to bombshell testimony the prosecutor gave in September to Gov. Cuomo’s Commission to Investigate Public Corruption.
Bharara revealed to the panel that he’s moving forward with plans to seize the future pensions for Stevenson and state Sen. Malcolm Smith — if they’re convicted of corruption charges.
Smith is also awaiting trial in a separate corruption case.
Bharara said he’d use existing federal forfeiture laws to slap convicted pols with fines to claw back any money derived from a public pension “so that the punishment fits the crime and … we can taken the profit out of that crime.”
“In that vein,” he added, “we have today filed bills of particulars in two pending public corruption cases — United States vs. Malcolm Smith and United States vs. Eric Stevenson, et al. — giving notice of our intent to go after the pensions of elected officials convicted of corruption charges.”
The government filed papers with Judge William Pauley III Nov. 5 saying Stevenson’s change-of-venue motion is “without merit” because nothing Bharara said “prejudiced” Stevenson or “generated, pervasive, negative publicity” to prevent the politician from getting an impartial jury.
But Stevenson’s lawyer, Andrew Patel, filed papers on Tuesday, maintaining that Bharara didn’t have to mention Stevenson by name before the panel — but did so anyway “to get the public’s attention” and make it difficult for the embattled pol to get “a fair trial.”
“A change of venue … is the only remedy available to redress the government’s violation of the basic rule that litigation in this District is conducted in the courtroom, not in a public forum,” Patel wrote.
“The United States Attorney was under no legal obligation to make reference to Mr. Stevenson in announcing any new policy,” Patel added. “Reference to Mr. Stevenson by name added nothing material to the content on his announcement.
Former state and city comptroller Alan Hevesi, who was convicted in a pay-to-play pension scandal, became a symbol for the flawed system when he started collecting a $166,000 pension despite serving 19 months in prison.
Pauley, who has yet to rule on the change-of-venue request, has previously accused Stevenson of trying to delay his trial. The judge two months ago refused to buy the pol’s claim that he needed more time to prepare because he’s getting poor legal advice from Patel, a court-appointed lawyer.
Stevenson pleaded not guilty in May to five counts of conspiracy and bribery in an alleged scheme to help four co-defendants open adult day-care centers and pass legislation to protect them from competition.