Former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano wants corruption charges against him and his wife tossed, accusing prosecutors of withholding evidence and allowing their star witness to perjure himself on the stand, according to new court papers.
The Manganos’ motion to dismiss, filed Wednesday, claimed there’s “unequivocal evidence” of prosecutorial misconduct during the 12-week trial that ended in a hung jury in May.
“In the months following the mistrial, defense counsel has learned a series of disturbing facts which indicate that this first trial was anything but fair,” the embattled couple’s lawyer Kevin Keating wrote in documents.
He claimed prosecutors “repeatedly suppressed evidence favorable to the defense” and knew or should’ve known testimony from restaurateur Harendra Singh was false.
The government allegedly knew — but hid — the identity of whom Keating called a “key witness” in the case, who would’ve contradicted its allegations that Mangano steered the Nassau County Jail “bread and rolls” contract to Singh.
Keating said prosecutors also “misrepresented” that they produced the entire wiretap recording of Singh and withheld “thousands of recorded calls,” including some in Hindi that they never bothered to translate.
The Manganos are charged with raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from Singh, a shady restaurateur, in exchange for contracts with the county and government loan guarantees.
Their co-defendant John Venditto, the former town supervisor of Oyster Bay, was acquitted of similar charges.
In post-trial interviews with Newsday, jurors in the Mangano case indicated that they were ready to acquit the former executive on charges related to the loans but were split over the charges pertaining to the “bread and rolls” contract, the filing said.
Keating said he’s learned of a new witness, Meredith Hughes, who is willing to give testimony favorable to Edward — that could lead to his acquittal on the charges.
The lawyer accused prosecutors of violating their “ethical obligations” by “concealing the existence of an unambiguously exculpatory witness.”
Jury selection in the Manganos’ retrial is set for Jan. 16.
A spokesman for the Eastern District of New York federal court declined to comment. The government’s response to Keating’s motion to dismiss is due New Year’s Eve.