There’s no verdict yet after a busy first day of deliberations in the blockbuster Manhattan campaign cash-swipe trial of consultant John Haggerty — accused of tricking Mayor Bloomberg into paying $1.1 million for an election day, 2009 ballot security operation, then pocketing most of the money to buy a house.
Deliberations on grand larceny and money laundering charges will continue tomorrow morning, and are off to a fast-paced start. The jury sent out six notes in less than six hours today, requesting various charts and documents along with re-instruction on the charges.
They also asked for a read-back of testimony by prosecution witness Thomas Connolly, the number-two man in the state Independence Party, who had testified two weeks ago that he’d have never have forwarded the $1.1 million if he’d known Haggerty would use most of it to buy out his brother’s share in the family mansion in Forrest Hills, Queens.
Jurors interrupted the read-back — saying they’d had enough — just minutes into the section where Connolly was crossed by defense lawyers, a possible bad sign for Haggerty.
The defense is trying to wiggle through two loopholes, arguing that Bloomberg aides never relied on Haggerty’s “slapped together” security operation budget, and that Bloomberg can’t be a victim since he technically lost all control over his $1.1 million contribution once he gave it to the Independence Party.
Prosecutors have shown jurors numerous emails between Haggerty and top Bloomberg campaign aides in which the accused thieving consultant repeatedly demands money and breaks down the massive operation into line items that never materialized — including expenditures for hotels, office space and rental cars that didn’t exist, and $350-a-day pay checks for 1,355 ultimately imaginary poll watchers.
Haggerty faces a maximum of 25 years prison on the top grand larceny charge.