The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1940-05-06
--NEA Radiophoto


guilty; that his record as the Corp.
Grafton Counsel for is years proves
his honesty
Frank Santalucia assigns as error
that his Constitutional rights were
invaded, that he was sentenced
under the 1887 Act which enlarged
the penalty for the conspiracy Of
which he was conviced which start
ed In 1890. The maximum penalty
for conspiracy In 1880 was 6 years;
he was found guilty Of conspiracy
which the jury found was commit
ted as Of that date and should
have been sentenced under said
statute; his sentence of seven years
was under an ex post facto law and
unconstitutional, The Judge In the
first instance instructed the jury
that the fact that the checks he re-
ceived were unnumbered, and his
claims not approved by the Board
OF Finance should be used as In
ference OF guilt against him and
then at another time the court told
the jury not TO consider said EVIL.
dence against him unless they were
convinced he knew OF the charter
requirements and the violations;
but there was no evidence that he
had such knowledge and the jury
should have been so told and they
should have been informed not TO
consider the violations Of the char
ter against him. The Court uni.
formly charged the jury that they
should infer from the fact that the
Assessors lists showed one Ford
dump truck IN his name, that San
talucia was guilty Of being menu
Der Of conspiracy and cheated the
city with men he never knew, not
even saw before the trial, such as
Levy, Williamson, Mckenzie, Kings
ley and Meaney. The Court utterly
failed TO charge that 1t was reason
able for them to infer that Santa
lucia was employed by the City to
Go trucking and furnish equipment
such as power shovels, compresSors
drills and other equipment for
street construction and repair work
and that he hired trucks and equip
ment from other contractors, If he
was not possessed OF said trucks and
equipment; that Santalucia was
leader among the Italian people and
II was reasonable that he should
get Jobs from the City In order to
influence the Italian vote; further
he clans that the Court failed to
direct the jury's attention to the
fact that the Citys' records showed
that every payment made to him
was regular, that the Superintend.
ent Of Streets filed q purchase Or
der, that " was o. KID, entered OIL
the City's books and payment made
by check. Santalucia further claims
that the Court indicated to the
jury that there was evidence that
he split his City payments with
others, whereas there was no such
evidence.
Allegations Not Proved
James p. Healey further assigns
as error the utter failure of the
State to prove the allegation that he
traded in the name OF the H. w.
SoiAASA SShaPuiiy, aliN tiluV WI VIC
evidence proved beyond a doubt
that the H. w. Conner Company
was a corporation Of long standing,
well and favorably known in the
community, that at all times In the
City transactions he acted for the
benefit Of the Conner Company and
as its treasurer; that all transac-
tons were regular and at no time
fraudulent; that the Conner Com
pany listed and paid taxes OH plenty
of equipment, that 1t owned a large
number Of trucks during the 8 years
Of the claimed conspiracy, hence no
inference of guilt could be drawn
from the fact of listing of
property with the assessors, that If
differences were to be drawn from
the payment of taxes, that he GER
tainly was not guilty. Mr.. Healey
says the evidence did not prove be-
yond a reasonable doubt that he
knew of the conspiracy to cheat the
City OF Waterbury and it failed to
prove him guilty.