First Witnesses Testify in Bruno Trial ALBANY, NEW YORK (WXXI) - The first witnesses in the corruption trial of former State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno testified in federal court Tuesday, as the prosecution tried to show that Bruno had tried to conceal some of his business interests from the public.

The first witness for the prosecution was longtime Albany lobbyist and power player James Featherstonaugh, who, through questioning by the US Attorneys, gave a tutorial on how things work at the Capitol, including three men in a room meetings and how legislation is written. Featherstonaugh told anecdotes and often looked inclusively at the jurors as he spoke, and seemed to bolster the case of the defense more than that of the prosecutors.

The testimony of the second witness, Tim Maginn of Maginn -Smith, one of the investment firms where Bruno worked when he as a Senator, was more incriminating. Prosecutors displayed a letter which in part detailed plans to publicize the then- Senators new business relationship with the brokerage firm, but Maginn testified that the Seantor late had asked him not to. The US Attorneys also presented documents showing that Bruno had never actually incorporated his private consulting business, even though Maginn issued tens of thousands of dollars in payment checks to Business consultants, Inc.

The former Senate Leader, during a break in the trial, said the testimony so far means nothing. "I'm a business man and I have a perfect right to be in business," Bruno said.

The third witness was Francis Collins, a former top lawyer for then- Senator Bruno, and now a Court of Claims judge. Prosecutors tried to show that Collins helped Bruno fudge some of his financial disclosure forms to the Legislative Ethics Committee, but Collins repeatedly said he could recall very little of the events, some of which took place more than 15 years ago, and had almost no knowledge of the Senator's business affairs.

At the close of the long day, the second one of the trial, Bruno said he was "confident" that he'll get a fair trial.

"I've felt that the prosecutors have been overly zealous in the pursuit of this case", Bruno said. "We need to get in an open court like this one, in a trial before jurors."




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