May 5, 2011
BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is being called to testify in the federal public corruption trial of former state House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Merritt told a jury Thursday that Patrick will be asked to confirm that DiMasi personally lobbied him on several occasions to support a $15 million management software contract for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
DiMasi and two others are charged in a scheme to rig state contracts for the software company Cognos in exchange for payments. Merritt said DiMasi was driven by mounting debt.
A fourth man charged in the scheme, Joseph Lally, cut a deal with prosecutors.
DiMasi attorney William Cintolo said jurors shouldn't believe Lally.
DiMasi and co-defendants Joseph McDonough and Richard Vitale have pleaded not guilty.
