Former Councilman Dan Halloran unsuccessfully attempted to delay his court trial on the grounds of insanity. Photo by William Alatriste/NYC Council
In a last-minute effort, former City Councilman Dan Halloran unsuccessfully tried to delay his day in court in connection to a federal corruption trial on the grounds of insanity.
The former northeast Queens lawmaker put in the request to federal court Judge Kenneth Karas asking to delay his July 2 trial date on the grounds of anticipated insanity and entrapment defenses. Halloran pointed to a procedure he had in May 2012 that removed a tumor from his brain, which, at the time, he and his Council staff defined as benign and successfully removed, arguing it left him unable to “appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts.”
Karas dismissed the motion last week and started the jury selection process for the trial on Monday. Vinoo Varghese, Halloran’s attorney, argued in court reports that he only recently learned of Halloran’s surgery and therefore was unable to consider it in his defense until last month.
At the time of his procedure, Halloran had told the press he was having a benign tumor removed from his brain and he expected a quick and speedy recovery. He kept constituents posted via Facebook in the aftermath of his surgery, cracking jokes that doctors were shocked of his speedy recovery because of “whiskey” and his “thick Irish skull.”
Since his surgery, Halloran has faced corruption charges accusing him of soliciting bribes to help install state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) into the mayoral race as a Republican. The two Queens lawmakers were arrested in April 2013 along with several others, including former vice chairman of the Queens Republican Party Vince Tabone.
Prosecutors have accused Halloran of helping Smith handle nearly $500,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund a phony real estate project in order to gain bribe money for his political campaign. Halloran reportedly received at least $60,000 in exchange for his assistance, documents said.
Smith was in search of GOP support in order to end up on the mayoral ballot as a Republican, thus making way for the scheme, prosecutors said. Tabone has been charged with receiving roughly $25,000 in helping Smith in his efforts of gaining the GOP line on the mayoral ballot, documents showed.
“That’s politics. It’s all about how much,” the criminal complaint reported Halloran saying last year. “Not about whether or will, it’s about how much. And that’s our politicians in New York, they’re all like that, all like that.”
Former Republican county chairman from the Bronx Joseph Savino was also arrested in the alleged scheme and pleaded guilty in November to bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud for accepting nearly $15,000 in bribes. Joseph Desmaret, a former deputy mayor from Spring Valley, also pleaded guilty in January to accepting $10,500 in bribes to sell village land in connection to the scheme.
City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) also added his name to the borough’s list of legally-challenged lawmakers after being arrested late last month on charges accusing him of stealing state grant money and misusing over $11,000 in campaign money.
By Phil Corso
