AP Features, January 23rd, 2008
Prosecutors said Tuesday they intend to retry two former hospital executives whose corruption convictions were overturned by a federal appeals court last week.
Robert Urciuoli, the former president and chief executive of Roger Williams Medical Center, and Frances Driscoll, a former vice president, were convicted in October 2006 of illicitly hiring a state senator to promote the hospital's agenda at the Statehouse and perform other political favors.
But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston overturned the verdicts Friday, saying the trial judge gave flawed instructions to the jury that allowed Urciuoli and Driscoll to be convicted for acts that were not illegal.
U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente said his office would be ready to retry Urciuoli and Driscoll as soon as another trial could be scheduled. He said the court's decision was narrow and would not affect the bulk of the prosecution's case.
"We believe that the central allegations of the indictment remain essentially unaffected and that they remain well founded," Corrente said in a statement.
Former state Sen. John Celona testified as the government's star witness, saying he was hired by the hospital to kill legislation the executives opposed.
He also said he arranged meetings between Urciuoli and insurance company executives over reimbursements and lobbied town officials to increase the number of ambulance runs to the hospital to help Roger Williams make more money.
But in its decision Friday, the appeals court said that Celona's lobbying for ambulance runs was not illegal, and that U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres erred by allowing the jury to consider it during deliberations.
The convictions are part of a continuing federal investigation into corruption at the Statehouse. Celona is in prison after pleading guilty in 2005 to federal fraud charges for his business dealings with Roger Williams, the CVS pharmacy chain and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.
