State prosecutors have filed a brief to the Connecticut's highest court, asking it to affirm a trial court's convictions of former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez.
Perez was convicted in 2010 on several corruption-related counts. He then resigned his office. But an appellate court threw that conviction out -- it said that while there was enough evidence to convict Perez, the trial court judge made a procedural error that merited two new trials. Perez's lawyers argued that the two cases against him shouldn't have been combined, and appellate court agreed.
But in its supreme court brief, the state says that the trial court made the right call when it joined the two cases against Perez into one -- and that the appellate court was wrong when it ruled that that move was an abuse of discretion. Prosecutors also say that the trial court made the right call by refusing to sever the two cases later in the trial. That's another thing with which the appellate court took issue.
The one trial was based on two schemes. In one, Perez was convicted of receiving a bribe and conspiracy to fabricating evidence, among other things. That case was about deeply discounted home improvements Perez got from a city contractor. In exchange, the state said Perez intervened on that contractor's behalf when the quality of his city work was called into question.
In another case, Perez was convicted of extortion and attempted larceny by extortion. That case was about an effort to squeeze a local developer into paying off a political ally. Perez was sentenced to three years in prison, but has remained free while his appeal is pending.
