Former Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin, who currently faces federal corruption charges for accepting bribes, has formally requested a bench trial overseen solely by a judge.
Meanwhile, former City Councilman Daniel Halloran, who was brought in during the same statewide corruption sweep that pinched Jasmin and stood before the same judge that Jasmin now faces, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for his role in a scheme to secure a New York mayoral nomination for disgraced State Sen. Malcom Smith.
Jasmin made the request to U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in a White Plains court on Monday, arguing the matters at issue might be better analyzed and understood by a judge than a jury. Jasmin faces charges related to accepting bribes from mortgage fraudster-turned-FBI informant Moses Stern in exchange for her support for a kosher catering hall in Spring Valley.
Such a trial is permissible in federal court so long as it is approved by the defendant, prosecutor and judge. According to Jasmin’s attorney Benjamin Ostrer, the U.S. Attorney overseeing the case has already agreed to a bench trial.
Halloran was slapped with the 10 year maximum for acting as a broker for a $200,000 bribery scheme to allow Smith to run in the mayoral race as a Republican. Though prosecutors sought a modest six-and-a-half to eight years behind bars, Karas opted for the maximum in response to Halloran’s blatant perjury on the stand which, in the face of damning evidence of guilt, Karas characterized as โgross and offensive.โ
Halloran, who was convicted by a jury, is expected to begin his sentence on April 17.
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