Months Later, Still No Resolution On Cahill Retrial
BOSTON (AP) — Two months after a judge declared a mistrial in a corruption case against former Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill, prosecutors and Cahill's lawyers have not reached an agreement on resolving the case.
Cahill was accused of scheming to run $1.5 million in taxpayer-funded lottery ads to boost his faltering 2010 independent gubernatorial campaign. A mistrial was declared Dec. 12 after jurors told a judge they were hopelessly deadlocked.
Cahill's lawyers and state Attorney General Martha Coakley have acknowledged that they are in "discussions" over how to resolve the case.
But a status conference to update Judge Christine Roach on the discussions has been postponed several times. The hearing is now scheduled for March 1.
Cahill attorney Brad Bailey said Wednesday he is hoping an agreement can be reached.
"We're hoping the agreement would avoid the need for trial," Bailey said. He would not comment on the specifics of the discussions.
The case against Cahill was the first real test of a 2009 state ethics law. Before the new law was passed, an allegation of conflict of interest would have been a civil rather than a criminal violation.
Coakley defended her decision to bring charges against Cahill, saying her office found "significant evidence" he tried to use the lottery's money as his own to help his campaign.
"Faced with this evidence, we certainly could not ignore it. We did not," Coakley said after the mistrial was declared.
Coakley's spokesman, Brad Puffer, declined to comment Wednesday on the discussions with Cahill's lawyers.
Cahill testified that he approved the advertising blitz because he wanted to defend the lottery after the Republican Governors Association tarnished its image through a series of ads attacking Cahill and his management of the lottery.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
