Defense, State Rests; Perez Does Not Testify In Corruption Trial

"Well my story is in, my lawyers did a good job. I got my day in court."

 

His attorney, Hubert Santos, explained in court the decision by his client to not testify even though the Mayor had wanted to testify regarding his bribery charge but not the charge of attempted larceny.

 

"For a defendent to take the stand and only testify about one episode would cause such prejudice that he has elected not to testify."

 

During the last day of testimony, Santos brought laborer, Antonio Mouta to the stand. He refuted earlier testimony by a Park street businessman who told the court Mouta told him contractors worked at Perez's home in 2005 on the weekends and didn't expect payment. Mouta was a former employee of Carlos Costa, the city contractor who prosecutors say bribed Perez with free home renovations. In exchange, Perez helped Costa keep a lucrative city streetscape contract.

The state's last witness was former city engineer John McGrane who was the prosecution's first witness in May.  He reiterated why he had sent a letter to Costa's bonding company telling them the city wanted to fire Costa for delays and quality issues on Park Street. Later a mayoral employee told the company to ignore the letter.  McGrane says he was told that the Mayor didn't want Costa fired becasue it would put the contractor out of business.

Besides bribery, Perez has also been charged with attempted extortion for allegedly trying to get a developer to pay $100,000 to a city politician as part of a land deal with the city. Closing arguments are set for Wednesday morning.

For WNPR, I'm Lucy Nalpathanchil.