BRIBERY TRIAL Jury finds Detore innocent

The defendant joked that he'd like a copy of his mug shot as a souvenir.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- Richard E. Detore, acquitted of channeling illegal gifts to now-expelled and imprisoned U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., was eager to return to Virginia with his wife to celebrate their eldest daughter's 11th birthday.
At the prosecution table, the expressions showed solemn acceptance of the verdict handed down Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court.
A jury acquitted Detore of conspiracy to violate the federal bribery statute. Over Thursday and Friday, jurors deliberated about six hours.
Judge Ann Aldrich asked the federal prosecutors, Matthew B. Kall and Ann C. Rowland, if they wanted the jury to be polled. They did not.
The judge then turned to the defense table and, with a grin and wave of her hand, said: "I know you don't."
Shaking his head and smiling, Thomas W. Mills Jr. of Dallas, Detore's lead attorney, said: "No. No, we don't."
If convicted, Detore, a 43-year-old Clifton, Va. pilot, faced 24 to 36 months in prison under the federal sentencing guidelines.
The verdict
Detore appeared tense as the jury filed in just before 3 p.m. Friday, bouncing on his feet and swaying back and forth. He sat composed when he heard the words that he had won.
Within a second, the verdict sank in and he smiled broadly, as did his three lawyers.
Janet Detore began crying as Mills, and then her husband, grabbed her in fierce hugs. Relief, after a stressful two-week trial, showed on her face.
The Detores were eager to leave Cleveland.
"We'd like to get home; it's our daughter's 11th birthday," Janet Detore said after court. Katelyn Detore turned 11 on Friday; her sister Courtney is 6.
Last weekend, the Detores flew home to get a break from the trial and, like most parents with a Harry Potter fan in the family, made sure Katelyn was at a mall bookstore to get one of the first copies of "The Order of the Phoenix."
Detore said he'd told his daughters that if they "have faith and believe, good things happen." He said he knew that, when he got a chance to tell what really happened, a jury would believe him.
To find Detore guilty, the jury had to conclude that he knew of the conspiracy to provide gifts to Traficant in the late 1990s and willingly participated. The co-conspirators, J.J. Cafaro of Liberty and Albert Lange Jr. of Virginia, admitted their part in the scheme and testified for the prosecution, as they did at Traficant's trial, which ended April 11, 2002.
The aftermath
"We accept the jury's verdict but, respectfully, disagree," Kall said after court Friday.
Mills said: "Obviously, we're as happy as can be. We think we got a fair trial. Mr. Detore and his wife can get back to normal."
The Detores had eased the tension as they waited for the verdict Friday by taking walks outside federal court. Detore said for the past nearly three years, since the Traficant investigation began, his life has been a nightmare.
They both agreed Mills, Christie N. Williams, also of Dallas, and Elizabeth Kelley, a Cleveland lawyer, provided an excellent defense.
In the hallway after the verdict, Detore joked that he'd like The Vindicator to provide him a copy of his U.S. marshal's mug shot that has been used in the newspaper. It will make a good souvenir, he said.
The government, in its closing argument, told the jury to consider Detore's credibility on the witness stand. Mills, when the trial began, had cautioned the jury that witnesses, such as Cafaro, who has committed perjury in the past, would come into court and lie.
Bribery involvement
Detore's trial, which began June 16, focused on Cafaro's now-defunct USAerospace Group in Manassas, Va. It tried, in 1998 and 1999, to win Federal Aviation Administration certification for laser lights aircraft landing technology.
Cafaro, a multimillionaire and vice president with the Cafaro Company, said he gave Traficant more than $40,000 in cash, boat repairs, meals, a welder, generator, cars and more.
In return for the gifts, Traficant promoted USAG's technology with the FAA.
Cafaro said he used his USAG executives, Detore and Lange, to channel most of the gifts to Traficant.
"I don't think anyone would trust the word of J.J. Cafaro," Mills told the jury in his closing argument. Mills called Lange "shifty" and suggested he kept some of Cafaro's money intended for boat repairs.
Cafaro, Mills told the jury, is motivated to make Detore into a crook because it would diminish the pending $1.8-million civil lawsuit Detore filed. Detore filed the lawsuit after being fired by Cafaro in March 2000.
Mills said the government lawyers could argue all they want that Detore knew about the conspiracy, but there was no proof. Mills said Detore never should have been charged -- "they got the bad guys" -- Cafaro and Traficant. Mills said the government was over-reaching and guessing and trying to put an honest person into the conspiracy.
Kall, in his closing argument, told the jury members they don't have to like Cafaro -- but said the government doesn't pick who gets involved in a conspiracy.
Cafaro reached a plea agreement with the government and, based on his cooperation, received 15 months' probation last November. Lange testified with immunity.
Traficant, convicted of racketeering, bribery and tax evasion, has been in prison since July 30, 2002. He is due out in mid-July 2009.
meade@vindy.com