Criminal Defense lawyer targets Hudson's ex-executive

NEWARK - Former Hudson County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski was portrayed in federal court Thursday as a political "boy wonder" who aspired to be governor, but instead became a lying, greedy, unscrupulous scoundrel, eager to line his pockets with untold payoffs and turn in his friends when he got caught.

Defense lawyer Peter Willis attacked the government's star witness in a stinging opening salvo as the first political corruption trial to result from Janiszewski's undercover work for the FBI got under way in Newark.

Willis is representing Hudson County Freeholder Nidia Davila Colon, 49, of Jersey City. She is charged with knowingly acting as a conduit for two $5,000 bribes from her former boyfriend, psychiatrist Oscar Sandoval, to Janiszewski in 1999.

During a brief appearance in the witness box before the trial recessed at noon, Janiszewski testified the cash was part of $20,000 he received from Sandoval for renewing contracts worth $1.3 million for psychiatric services at the county jail and hospital.

It was Janiszewski's second public appearance since he abruptly resigned and dropped out of sight in 2001 after secretly taping conversations with his associates for more than a year.

The former assemblyman and four-term county executive resurfaced in October and pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Sandoval. Colon and a former freeholder, William Braker, were indicted soon afterward in separate cases.

Willis, one of Hudson's most noted criminal defense lawyers, said Colon enjoyed an impeccable reputation as the state's longest-serving female freeholder doing "everything she can to help minorities in her community" while also working on the staffs of two congressmen and a U.S. senator.

"Nidia Davila Colon will testify in this case and her reputation, her life, and achievements will be weighed by you against the life and character and greed and immorality and unethical conduct and the crimes committed [by Janiszewski] throughout his entire public career," Willis told the jury.

While the evidence will show Janiszewski pocketed "maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars" from contractors, Willis said, "There is no allegation that she enriched herself in her 19 years of service with one penny of bribes or payoffs and you will not hear that in this trial."

He described Colon as an unwitting participant - duped, entrapped and finally betrayed by Sandoval, the man who had promised to marry her, but instead "left her in the biggest jam of her life."

Willis said Sandoval "got caught" by the government and then set up Colon as a conduit after another informant tipped authorities that Sandoval was paying off Janiszewski.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Kwon, who outlined the government's case, said Sandoval was working for the FBI and wearing recording devices when he twice handed an envelop stuffed with $100 bills to Colon at political functions and she passed it on to Janiszewski.

Kwon said Janiszewski will testify that he received the cash and that she told him, "This is from Oscar. More is on the way."

Sandoval was not permitted to talk to Janiszewski about money, Kwon said.

However, he said that between the tape recordings Sandoval made of Colon and testimony from the former county executive, the jury will hear about both sides of the transaction.

Kwon asked jurors to listen closely to Colon's tone when the tapes are played and judge whether Colon sounds angry, reluctant, hesitant, or nervous.

On earlier tapes, the prosecutor said, Colon and Sandoval discuss plans for making the payoffs and concerns that Janiszewski might be making his own taping so she would have to be "vague and have a cover story" about what she was doing.

Colon insisted on being the intermediary, Kwon said, telling Sandoval, "If he goes down, I go down," and "My career is on the line and his is too ... if we go, we both go down."

Although Colon did not profit from the scheme, Kwon argued that as Sandoval's girlfriend, she had an interest in seeing that his contracts were renewed annually.

Kwon said Colon also funneled cash from Sandoval to Janiszewski in the mid 1990s, "long before the FBI ever got involved" in this case.

In a series of evidentiary rulings, U.S. District Judge William G. Bassler on Thursday denied a defense request to exclude any evidence of the earlier payments. He also ruled that the government must publicly identify in court all the vendors who paid bribes to Janiszewski.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery D. Clark wanted to protect the identities of cooperating witnesses and the reputations of others who might not be charged, but the judge agreed that assigning the vendors numbers would hamper Colon's defense.

Copyright (c) 2003 North Jersey Media Group Inc.