DiMasi is facing federal public corruption charges.
Former Massachusetts House Speakers Thomas Finneran, left, and Salvatore DiMasi, right, talk to state House Minority Leader George Peterson Jr., prior to the swearing in ceremony for new lawmakers at the Statehouse in Boston, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)BOSTON — A day after his co-defendant Joseph Lally pled guilty, former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s public corruption case is back in federal court.
An 11 a.m. pre-trial conference has been scheduled in the case against DiMasi, Lally and co-defendants Richard McDonough and Richard Vitale. At 2 p.m., the court is scheduled to hear a motion from The Boston Globe to unseal judicial records.
The hearings will be held at the Moakley Courthouse in Boston.
Lally, a co-defendant in the public corruption case against DiMasi, pled guilty Tuesday to conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud charges, pledging to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Lally, who walked into the Moakley Courthouse with the assistance of a single crutch - the result of recent hip replacement surgery - entered his guilty plea on his 50th birthday. Under questioning from U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf, Lally said he had been taking anti-depressants for the past year.
"Today I took responsibility for my actions," Lally told reporters during briefs remarks outside the courthouse before stepping into a Ford Expedition and departing. He declined to elaborate on factors that had led him to his decision to plead guilty. "I'm looking forward to moving forward putting this matter behind me. I'm very fortunate to have a loving wife and family and friends, and I will live up to my agreement with the prosecutors."
Court documents obtained by the News Service Monday indicated Lally, charged with helping concoct and support a kickback scheme to enrich himself, DiMasi and other associates, would plead guilty and must cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a two-to-three-year sentence, two years of probation and an unspecified fine.
Lally informed the judge he would prefer to be sentenced after the trials of his co-defendants are completed, and Wolf agreed. Lally's attorney, Robert Goldstein, noted that Lally could argue for an even lesser sentence depending on his ability to assist prosecutors. Wolf estimated the trial of Lally's co-defendants, scheduled to begin in April, would last about two months.
"It takes an incredible reservoir of emotional and financial wherewithal to come to this point," Goldstein said, referring to Lally's plea.
Thomas Kiley, the attorney defending DiMasi against federal public corruption charges, attended the plea hearing and told the News Service he believes Lally succumbed to pressure to plead guilty.
"I do feel bad for him," Kiley said, adding that Lally "has a valid defense." Asked if he were concerned that the outcome of Lally's case could affect DiMasi's case, Kiley said that a plea agreement of the type Lally struck "happens all the time." Kiley later told reporters he attended the session as "an observer" and would have more to say in future court proceedings.
Asked whether the plea would hurt DiMasi's chances in court, Kiley said, "I certainly hope not and I don't think it will … I've always thought my client's chances are very good. There was nothing new today."
According to court documents, prosecutors had alleged that Lally helped coordinate a kickback scheme that paid DiMasi tens of thousands of dollars in order to secure $20 million in state contracts for Cognos, a software company for which Lally worked as a sales executive, and later as a reseller. Lally helped arrange an agreement to funnel funds to DiMasi through a legal services contract with DiMasi's longtime law partner Steven Topazio, prosecutors alleged.
"Through this sham consulting agreement arranged by the defendants, Lally, essentially through Topazio, paid DiMasi $65,000 from Cognos funds," according to an affidavit filed by prosecutors. DiMasi, his accountant Richard Vitale and lobbyist Richard McDonough, also charged in the alleged scheme, have maintained their innocence.
News of Lally's guilty plea this week thrust back into public consciousness a period on Beacon Hill marked by ethical and legal scandals. DiMasi, once arguably the most powerful figure in government who led legislative drives to overhaul Massachusetts's health care, clean energy and child sexual abuse laws, resigned from his post in January 2009 amid swirling speculation about the corruption charges, which would be issued later that year.
His departure fueled the rise of House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who was elected speaker that month and sought immediately to squelch public mistrust of state government by pushing an ethics, lobbying and campaign finance overhaul.