Thu Aug 27, 2009 at 01:30:00 PM EDT
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Awaiting sentencing after being convicted of extortion and mail fraud at Hackensack University Medical Center and with prosecutors requesting a term with guidelines that range from 63 to 78 months, former State Senator Joe Coniglio's attorney is asking for no jail time:Coniglio's attorney, Gerald Krovatin, submitted a 22-page sentencing memorandum along with 84 letters from family, friends and supporters urging the judge to be lenient.
He asked Cavanaugh to consider granting "a substantial" variance from the range sought by the government, and offered a menu of sentencing options. And here's what was on the menu:He asked Cavanaugh to consider granting "a substantial" variance from the range sought by the government, and offered a menu of sentencing options.
"If the court cannot justify imposing a non-custodial sentence with appropriate conditions of home confinement and community service, defendant Coniglio asks the court to impose either a split sentence involving some minimal incarceration [no more than six months] combined with home confinement, or a sentence of imprisonment no longer than a year and a day," Krovatin wrote. Coniglio's lawyer pointed to the fact that no one was actually prosecuted from the hospital in trying to make their case:"The hospital that paid the alleged bribes and benefited from the alleged extortion scheme to the tune of tens of millions of dollars was not charged," said Krovatin. Nor were its president, who allegedly directed that Coniglio be hired, nor the fund-raising executive who "relentlessly pursued" Coniglio for state grants, nor any of the "wealthy and politically connected directors," who approved his hiring, the attorney said.
"In hindsight of course, Joseph Coniglio should never have taken the consulting job with HUMC. But that was not obvious to him at the time.
"He thought he was successfully navigating his way, with the advice of counsel and his legislative peers, around any 'third rail' conflicts of interest in his job at HUMC. As all the letter writers to the court have expressed in one way or another, Joseph Coniglio never would have taken the job at HUMC if he thought for one moment that he was doing anything wrong," Krovatin said. Coniglio is supposed to be sentenced this coming Tuesday. I would think it's unlikely he gets no time behind bars. Wayne Bryant began serving his sentence earlier this week in West Virginia. He received a four year sentence for his convictions. |
| Jason Springer :: Coniglio seeks "a substantial" variance to avoid jail |
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