COMPLETE COVERAGE FROM WPRO’S DAN YORKE SHOW:
By PHILIP MARCELO, The Associated Press, And WPRO
A former campaign aide to Democratic Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello has been cleared of criminal charges stemming from the 2016 campaign.
Jeff Britt, 52, was found not guilty Wednesday of felony money laundering as well as a misdemeanor charge of making a prohibited campaign contribution.
The verdict in the bench trial was handed down by Judge Daniel Procaccini in Kent County Superior Court in Warwick.
Procaccini said in his decision that prosecutors had failed to sufficiently prove Britt was guilty of either charge beyond a reasonable doubt. He also criticized the state’s money laundering statute in his remarks in court, calling it “constitutionally deficient.”
Prosecutors alleged Britt illegally paid for a campaign mailer sent out by a Republican candidate that endorsed Mattiello for reelection.
They said Britt funded, via a third party, a $1,000 contribution to Shawna Lawton that helped pay for the mailer.
Lawton had lost the Republican primary to Mattiello’s eventual challenger, Steve Frias. Prosecutors alleged Britt met with Lawton before the mailer was sent out, suggesting the speaker would support her anti-vaccination priorities in exchange for her backing.
Britt attended Wednesday’s hearing by video conference from Florida, where he lives, but his lawyer, former U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Robert Clark Corrente, said outside the courthouse that the decision validated his argument that his client was over prosecuted.
Britt had earlier rejected a plea deal that would have him serve 18 months of a five-year prison sentence.
The five-day, jury-waived trial took place in October, just days before the November election in which Mattiello was defeated by Republican challenger Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung. Mattiello, through his campaign spokesperson, declined to comment on the verdict.
State Attorney General Peter Neronha, who is also a former U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, said Wednesday he stood by his office’s decision to prosecute the case.
“This case was about one thing: standing behind Rhode Island’s campaign finance transparency laws, and the Board of Elections’ ability to enforce them,” he said in a statement. “The public has a right to know who really is providing support to candidates for public office.”
Neronha said the office would continue to fight for election transparency and integrity.
“Politics doesn’t need to be a dirty business,” he said. “It doesn’t need to involve soliciting fake donors to create an illusion of an independent endorsement. It doesn’t need to involve complex schemes designed to deceive voters.”
