Ex-NY state Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver’s corruption retrial has been pushed back two weeks to April 30th to accommodate a sick witness, a Manhattan federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
Judge Valerie Caproni rescheduled Silver’s planned April 16 corruption retrial to April 30 after prosecutors said their key witness, mesothelioma doctor Robert Taub, is suffering from unspecified medical issues. He is not expected to be able to testify until the week of the 30th, prosecutors told the judge.
Jury selection in the four to six week trial will still go as planned on Monday April 16th, however.
Potential jurors will be asked to answer 33 questions before getting picked or tossed — including their attitudes about Albany politicians and Silver specifically.
“Do you have any strong opinions about New York State government, or about politicians in general?” reads question #9 of the 14-page questionnaire, filed with the court on Wednesday.
Jurors will also be asked what they know and feel about Silver, who stands accused of using his powerful position in the New York legislature to dole out favors to Dr. Taub and a real estate company in return for $4 million in kickbacks that he received through two law firms he was affiliated with.
Silver, 74, is being retried after his 2015 conviction was overturned by an appeals court — thanks to the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling that narrowed the definition of bribery.