Second Bongiovanni trial goes to jury

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 12:08 p.m.

U.S. District Court jurors are expected to take the fate of former District Judge Gerard Bongiovanni into their hands today after hearing two weeks of testimony in the second bribery and corruption trial for the ex-jurist.

Bongiovanni's first trial, held last December, ended in a hung jury.

The defense rested its case Wednesday morning.

"This is not a case of large, endless bribes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson in his closing arguments. "It is the case of the erosion of a judge over time."

Bongiovanni may have started out well when he took office in January 1991, but there was a gradual erosion of his ethical standards, Johnson argued.

Prosecutors allege Bongiovanni, who was indicted in early 1996 after an undercover investigation that lasted more than a year, took $5,000 from show producer Jeff Kutash for a favorable ruling in one case and $500 from a federal informant who wanted favors from the judge.

Paul Dottore, a close friend of Bongiovanni at the time, became a star witness against the former judge after pleading guilty to his own role in the racketeering allegations.

Jurors will deliberate 13 charges against Bongiovanni, among them racketeering and wire fraud.

"If a judge is corrupt, it filters down through the entire judicial system," said Johnson, "which is why we have high standards of ethics for judges."

According to Johnson, Bongiovanni took bribes, sometimes $100 and sometimes more, through middle men and accepted improper favors such as clothing discounts.

"A judge is suppose to avoid impropriety or the appearance of impropriety," said Johnson.

He told the jurors they may not like the witnesses put on the stand to testify against Bongiovanni, but "bribery does not leave a dead body ... sometimes a cooperating witness is needed."

Kutash acquitted a year ago on charges he gave Bongiovanni a $5,000 bribe for a favorable ruling in a civil case over control of his "Splash" show at the Riviera hotel-casino.

He was subpoened by the defense to testify in this trial, but he is alleged to be out of the country.