A lawyer for Dean Skelos urged jurors to acquit the former state Senate majority leader of bribery and extortion charges, saying the government did not prove its case — or make the once-powerful politician crack on the witness stand.
“You saw Dean’s demeanor,” lawyer Robert Gage said in closings. “He answered their questions. Dean looked you in the eye.”
Skelos, 70, took the stand in his father-son corruption retrial and copped to asking executives of companies lobbying him to give his son Adam jobs. But he said he never did it in exchange for help with legislation — and so therefore never committed bribery.
Skelos, 70, and his son Adam, 36, are on trial for the second time in three years over allegations that they strongarmed companies lobbying Skelos into giving Adam do-nothing jobs and consulting gigs.
In closing arguments for Adam, lawyer John Kenney said his client could not have been involved in an illicit quid pro quo because he wasn’t involved in his dad’s work on legislation for companies that gave him jobs.