Tuesday, September 18, 2007
CLEVELAND TRIAL HALTED
The federal court trial of a former accountant for the Cleveland Catholic Diocese was postponed Monday after the defendant, Anton Zgoznik, refused to participate and tried to fire his lawyers.
Court officials characterized Zgoznik's problem as a panic attack on the morning he was scheduled to mount his defense against charges he paid $784,000 in kickbacks to the diocese's former top lawyer and chief financial officer, Joseph Smith.
Zgoznik's supporters said he didn't panic.
His supporters said he feared he would be convicted and imprisoned for crimes he maintains he did not commit.
Smith, who has attended the four-week trial in U.S. District Court, said Zgoznik had grown increasingly dissatisfied with his defense attorneys, Robert Rotatori and Susan Gragel. The defendant was especially upset with Rotatori's restrained cross-examination of retired Bishop Anthony Pilla and the Rev. John Wright about two weeks ago.
"Anton's the most stubborn person I know," Smith said. "Once he makes up his mind, he's not going to change it. He doesn't think Rotatori is being aggressive enough."
Meek is a word seldom used to describe Rotatori, a veteran criminal defense lawyer with a gristly demeanor and a gravelly growl of a voice. He declined to comment and did not return a phone call to his office.
The last sentence in the story has me wondering...
Zgoznik became upset after Rotatori declined to grill Wright and Pilla about the secret accounts, heeding Aldrich's warnings that such questioning would be off-limits, Smith said.
Why? Was some sort of deal struck?
Read the whole story here.
