Breaking: Mistrial Declared in New York Voter Fraud Trial
Looks like the circus that is the upstate voter fraud trial will be in town once more. After repeated declarations from the jury that they were hopelessly deadlocked, and amidst hope that they could come to some sort of partial verdict, Judge Pulver pulled the plug and declared a mistrial, ordering the case retried. After the jury had been dismissed, supporters of the two defendants, Michael LoPorto and Edward McDonough broke into celebration. How they could view a temporary reprieve as some sort of victory remains a mystery.
The loser in the case clearly is Troy politics in general, and the Democrat party. Make no mistake, despite today’s results, several Democrat operatives committed a littany of crimes.
Via the Times Union:
A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the ballot fraud case against Rensselaer County Democratic Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough and former City Councilman Michael LoPorto.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice George Pulver dismissed the jury and ordered the case be retried.
The jury began deliberations March 2 and deliberated for approximately 40 hours. For days, jurors said they couldn’t reach a verdict, twice telling the judge they were deadlocked.
“The court concludes that the jury is hopelessly and genuinely deadlocked and that no purpose would be served requiring the jury to continue deliberations,” Pulver wrote in a decision announcing he was declaring a mistrial.
McDonough faced 38 counts of forgery and 36 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, both felonies.
LoPorto faced 29 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument. Pulver dismissed 13 counts of second-degree forgery against LoPorto.
It remains to be seen how prosecutor Trey Smith will proceed, and which charges he wants to bring against the pair, if any. For now it seems that the Democrats who have masterminded the voter fraud scheme were all given plea deals, exchanging testimony in this trial for a lone felony charge. Two other Democrats await their own trials.
From the Troy Record:
Former City Clerk Bill McInerney, former Councilman John Brown and operatives Tony DiFiglio and Tony Renna all pled guilty to a felony each and testified on behalf of Smith.
Charges, including felonies, against two other Democrats, former Council President Clement Campana and Councilman Gary Galuski, remain outstanding.
How these deals were decided upon by Smith is anyone’s guess, but they are questionable to say the least. For instance, defense attorneys during the trial raised the question that Bill McInerney could have faced several hundred felony counts, but only had to plead to one.
Then there is the story of current Troy City Councilman, Kevin McGrath, who received his own immunity agreement. Details of the that agreement came out during testimony when McGrath admitted on the stand that he has gotten favorable treatment – meaning no prison time – for several alleged crimes, including a felony drug conviction.
Troy City Councilman Kevin McGrath, D-District 1, got the deal of a lifetime revealed in a recently disclosed cooperation agreement with the special prosecutor in the Troy voter fraud investigation. This agreement allows McGrath to avoid criminal prosecution for any wrongdoing on his part in the voter fraud scandal…
The people of District 1 and the city of Troy have a right to know why McGrath was given such favorable treatment to avoid criminal prosecution for acts he may have committed as part of the voter fraud scandal. These acts are very similar to what two individuals did who were in turn indicted by the same grand jury for multiple felony counts of alleged fraud and forgery. McGrath himself benefitted from the voter fraud in 2009 which allowed him to secure the Working Families party line on the ballot.
So while the McDonough and LoPorto families celebrate, at least 49 voters in Troy have had their vote stolen from them. Some of them were targeted specifically for their lesser knowledge on election procedures, such as the mentally disabled. Some of them were targeted for their lesser understanding of language and laws, such as immigrants. Some were targeted based on their income, such as college students who were actually paid for their vote.
All of them were targeted for one specific reason. Democrats thought they were infallible, and that theft of an election was a ‘normal political tactic’.
Do they have any reason to think otherwise?
Top 8 Moments in the New York Voter Fraud Trial
While the city of Troy, New York, anxiously awaits the jury’s verdict in the upstate voter fraud case, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back at some of the more outrageous, if not flat-out criminal moments of the trial thus far.
The trial involves two Democrats – former City Councilman Michael LoPorto, and Rensselaer County Board of Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough. The two have been accused of over 100 combined felonies in connection with the alleged defrauding of the 2009 Working Families Party primary.
When asked why he handed ballots to former City Councilman John Brown, Renna said that he didn’t know what Brown’s intentions were and that “I wasn’t involved in any criminal procedures.”
“It’s extremely troubling that local Democrats in Troy appear to have committed fraud in an attempt to win a primary fight with Troy Republicans for our ballot line.”
Testimony also showed operatives may have targeted immigrants and other people not familiar with the English language or the U.S. election process.
Maritza Berrios said she was not even registered to vote in 2009. Shown an absentee ballot with her signature, she said it was not hers.
Ana Berrios only said she signed something she was asked to sign. She said she really did not know what it was. When asked if she wrote in the required “where you will be on election day” box that she would be on vacation in Cape Cod, she replied — “I don’t even know where that is.”
Johanna Torres said she just did what she was told.
“He said sign here and I did and that was it,” Torres said.
But an interesting caveat was also revealed, something Joseph did not provide in his grand jury testimony – He claims he was paid for his troubles.
Via the Times Union:
A former Hudson Valley Community College football player told jurors Wednesday that he was paid $10 to register to vote by a man from Troy City Hall.
Jermaine Joseph was the first witness called to testify at the trial of two Democrats accused of forging absentee ballots to hijack the 2009 Working Families Party primary.
Joseph said that he and his roommate were each given $10 by a man from Troy City Hall after they signed voter registration cards in 2009. He did not identify the man.
1) New York Democrats – Voter Fraud is ‘A Normal Political Tactic’ (01/17/2012)
Democrat Guilty of Forgery Testifies ‘I Wasn’t Involved In Any Criminal Procedures’
Oh what a knee-slapper we witnessed at the upstate New York voter fraud case today!
The Democrat party in this area is but a comedy of errors, day after day in court – problem being, they are the only ones who have had a laugh at the expense of poor, minority voters whose rights were being trampled during recent elections.
Anthony Renna, a long-time Democrat operative who has already been found guilty of second-degree forgery, actually had the fortitude to say the following with a straight face:
When asked why he handed ballots to former City Councilman John Brown, Renna said that he didn’t know what Brown’s intentions were and that “I wasn’t involved in any criminal procedures.”
Of course, in addition to having already been charged, Renna and a cohort in the scandal, Anthony DeFiglio, told police that, “voter fraud is an accepted way of winning elections, and faking absentee ballots was commonplace.”
Fraud and forgery must not register as illegal in the mind of Democrats.
Earlier this month we reported on another statement made by Renna:
Renna explained that the process of handing in forged ballots and fake votes ensures that “ballots are voted correctly.” He adds, “‘Voted correctly’ is a term used for a forged application or ballot.”
It would appear that Renna still isn’t aware that forgery is indeed a criminal procedure. Of course, that might be because he and the Democrats in New York had been getting away with it for some time.
Testimony today revealed that one of the defendants in the case, Edward McDonough, one of two Democrats facing a litany of charges involving forgery and falsifying documents, had provided State Police with evidence that Renna himself had forged ballots in the 2007 general election, as well as the 2009 primary.
At one point during his testimony, Renna was challenged by defense attorney Brian Premo, “You committed many felonies of voter fraud over the past 20 to 30 years, isn’t that right?”
Renna denied that was the case, but as we reported earlier in the trial, a State Police Investigator stated that DeFiglio had referred to the voter fraud scheme as a ‘normal political tactic’ that had been taking place for ’25 years’.
Th crux of the defense’s argument was that long-time operatives in the Democrat party such as Renna were actually the ones who had developed the forgery scheme throughout the years, and had simply showed newcomers the ropes.
All told, Renna admitted to forging ten ballots on the stand Wednesday.
He also made statements suggesting that he may have tried to get DeFiglio out of the area to, as in the words of the defense “tamper with the witness”. The exchange as reported by the Times Union:
Premo also asked Renna if he tampered with evidence during the investigation by suggesting that Democratic operative Anthony DeFiglio leave the state when the fraud case broke.
Renna said McInerney sent him to DeFiglio with a job offer in Vermont.
“You wanted to tamper with the witness, right?” Premo asked.
“It all pertained to him not having a job at that time,” Renna said.
“In fact, they did not want him to talk to investigators, right?” Premo asked.
“There was a feeling he might be better off leaving the area,” Renna said.
Renna frequently came off as inept during his testimony, making statements that were not made during previous interviews or testimony, and forgetting names and individuals involved in scenarios when cross-examined.
Premo believes the inept act to be just that – an act.
“In fact you are just play acting for this jury, acting like you are slowed by illness when in fact you’re very streetwise, right?” he asked.
At least the city of Troy can rest easy knowing that Renna and the other Democrats still don’t believe what they did could be considered ‘criminal procedures”.
Former Dem City Clerk Admits to Forging Ballots, And Then Some
Last week, the voter fraud case in Troy, New York saw embarrassing testimony from a current member of the city Council, Kevin McGrath, who relayed fears of running for public office because of his history of substance abuse, and “the fact that he is a convicted felon”. More shameful was McGrath’s willingness to make light of his felony conviction, stating that he “didn’t make much of a profit”, a comment that prompted an apology from the judge presiding over the case.
Yesterday brought testimony from the former city clerk who allegedly spearheaded the operation, William McInerney. The Democrat admitted his own guilt in the forgery case, while implicating others as well. McInerney testified to preying on people living in public housing saying, “I went to the projects to see if voters would sign the applications and if not I’d forge them.” McInerney officially pled guilty to forgery back in August.
The admission prompted the former mayor of Troy, Republican Harry Tutunjian, to post a scathing statement on Facebook.
I sat in on the voter fraud trial today. I was disgusted to hear the former city clerk admit that he has been forging and voting absentee ballots since at least 2007. What is more disturbing is that he admitted that other council members also forged and voted ballots. They all knew what they were doing. So what did they do when they got caught? They blamed Bob Mirch, they blamed me, and they blamed everyone else.
This gang of admitted and accused criminals made the last two years of my term very difficult. They accused me and members of my administration of criminal acts, bullying, thuggery, you name it. I am not ashamed to say I feel a certain sense of satisfaction in hearing they actually did far worse than what they accused me of. It is a shame that the people of Troy were represented by true criminals that stole the votes of unsuspecting residents for many years.
Bear in mind that eight members of the Democrat party have been indicted, charged, or implicated in the voter fraud scandal. The reference to Mirch coincides with statements from the Democrats in which they tried to collaborate with the Working Families Party to draft a press release which blamed the voter fraud on the former Republican Public Works Commissioner.
Little could Tutunjian have known how prescient his statement would be. “They actually did far worse” played out in an incredible way during today’s courtroom drama. Defense attorney Brian Premo at one point suggested that McInerney could have been charged with several hundred felonies, despite having pled to only one. McInerney was sentenced to 90 days in a Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Department work program to avoid jail time.
Several hundred felonies in exchange for testimony and a 90 day slap on the wrist?
Adding insult to injury, McInerney also testified about a drunk driving conviction, had to answer questions about a sexual harassment claim which led to his termination at a job with the New York State Legislature, and having an order of protection issued for stalking his ex-wife.
From the Times Union:
William McInerney, the former city clerk who spearheaded a scheme to steal votes and cooperated with the prosecution of two other Troy Democrats accused of ballot fraud, admitted he was accused of stalking women.
“An old girlfriend stated something along the lines of that,” McInerney said during questioning by Brian Premo, who represents Edward McDonough, one of the two men on trial for allegedly forging ballots in the 2009 Working Families Party primary.
Premo also asked McInerney about an allegation that he stalked his ex-wife. McInerney admitted an order of protection was filed for the alleged stalking.
In regards to the sexual harassment incident, the Union also reported that:
Premo questioned him about his termination from a job at the state Assembly. Premo suggested McInerny lost the job because he accused a female co-worker of getting a job because she performed a sex act on their boss. Premo noted when a gay male co-worker objected to his remark, McInerny told the man he was upset because the man wasn’t involved with the boss.
It is quite the cast of characters that were running the city of Troy between 2007 and 2011.
Mental Recession 