Romei Trial, Day 9 + Courtroom Blog
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Romei Trial, Day 9 + Courtroom Blog Save Email Print
Posted: 8:15 AM Nov 20, 2008
Last Updated: 10:15 PM Feb 13, 2009
Reporter: Steve Fullhart
Email Address: fullhart@kbtx.com

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Another day of deliberations has yielded no verdict in the trial of former Arts Council director P. David Romei.

For more than 12 hours Friday, jurors discussed the case presented to them over a week-and-a-half. But like Thursday when they received the case, at the end of the day, they had no verdict on the three felony charges facing Romei.

The state has accused him of using Arts Council and City of College Station money for personal purchases and donations. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

If convicted, Romei could face upwards of 10 years in prison. The jury could also choose probation if they find him guilty.

At around 5 p.m. Friday, the two sides in the case gathered together for the first time that day. Following their meeting, Judge Steve Smith passed a note to jurors asking how long they wanted to possibly work into the evening. The response was that they would work past 9 p.m. if necessary.

The jurors also were given the option of coming back Saturday at 9 a.m. or wait until Monday morning. The jury chose Saturday.

By 9:10 p.m. Friday, the judge decided to send jurors home for the evening.

In nearly a decade-and-a-half on the bench, Judge Smith said he has never had a deliberation go this long. This is also his longest trial.

The jury in the case has three charges to deal with, and can return verdicts on all of them or some of them. If they are unable to come up with a unanimous not guilty or guilty verdict on any charges, the judge has the option to order a new trial, or can ask the jury to continue its deliberations.

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Posted by: Jv Location: Bryan on Nov 25, 2008 at 11:57 AM
T, I agree with most of what you said, except you said Romei will never be held accountable....yes he will, if not in this world....He wont escape God's justice, for that matter, a lot of us will have things to answer for..including P. David Romei

Posted by: T Location: B/CS on Nov 24, 2008 at 03:42 PM
We all knew how this would turn out. For many years (OJ?), it's been obvious that if you (or your friends) have money for a high priced defense, you can get away with stealing or even killing. Romei is a common thief, but he'll NEVER be held accountable.

Posted by: B on Nov 24, 2008 at 05:24 AM
{That would be 10,800 transactions to NEVER make a mistake. That is why there are auditors and CPA's} And Romei did pretty well on that score; The auditors only found about a dozen "mistakes" AFTER they seized Romei's records and compared them with the AC books he kept. But those dozen mistakes he DID make were ALL in his favor; including miscatagorizing them on the Atrs Council side so that those "auditors and CPAs" would miss them too. And I KNOW I don't know everything, especially when con men deliberately manipulate the facts to enrich themselves

Posted by: F. Location: Nederland on Nov 22, 2008 at 08:37 PM
Steve: Thank you for your balanced, objective reporting. Print media has confirmed the content of your 'blog' every day.

Posted by: Paul Location: B/CS on Nov 22, 2008 at 05:49 PM
When will this END?

Posted by: A on Nov 22, 2008 at 07:13 AM
Steven:I think it's quite clear that you have never had a job that required you to do more than one task at a time. If you can handle the numbers think about what the state is saying...If Dr. Romei worked on an average of 24 days a month, times 90 months that would be 2,160 days of work. If you have every worked that many days in a high demand, high profile, high stress job do you really think that you would not make an error here and there. How many transanctions in total are there in that amount of time? Lets say 5 per work day. That would be 10,800 transactions to NEVER make a mistake. That is why there are auditors and CPA's. This can't all be put on Dr. Romei's back. Man up to not knowing everything. Personally I think you should not be so close minded!

Posted by: J.Trahan Location: Caldwell on Nov 21, 2008 at 11:39 PM
I bet Nancy Berry can't wait ! She probably can't sleep tonight.

Posted by: Molly Location: Bryan on Nov 21, 2008 at 08:33 PM
The reason it is taking so long for thr juryis that this is the first time reasonable people have had a chance to look at this case. The case (puppet show) has been 100% controlled by Turner and Schwartz up to this point, including telling lies and intimidating witnesses. I even hear there was much intimidation towards the defendant to accept a plea. Now Turner's wordt nightmare has come true. He has had to turn this over to people who are not in this for political reasons. They are actually doing their job and looking at the so-called "evidence" Theyare also not influenced by a prejudiced media that reports only the prosecutors side of the story. The jury, for the first time, heard the other side. They are the first people to EVER hear the other side. The silence has been lifted.

Posted by: jj Location: college station on Nov 21, 2008 at 08:29 PM
This is going to end in a hung jury. So, what will Turner do? Try the case again for more taxpayer money or let Romei pay the $ back and dismiss the case? (I heard Pat Meece has a sister on this jury)

Posted by: Molly Location: Bryan on Nov 21, 2008 at 08:19 PM
The reason it is taking so long for the jury is that this is the first time reasonable people have had a chance to look at this case. This case (puppet show) has been 100% controlled by Turner and Shwartz up to this point, including telling lies and intimidating witnesses. I even hear there was much intimidation towards the defendant to accept a plea. Now Turner's worst nightmare has come true. He has had to hand this over to people who are not in this for political reasons. They are actually doing their job and looking at the so-called "evidence." They are also not influenced by a prejudiced media that reports only the prosecution's side of this story. The jury, for the first time, heard the other side. They are the first people to EVER hear the other side. The silence has been lifted..

Posted by: Don Location: CS on Nov 21, 2008 at 07:01 PM
To Anonymous-we shouldn't worry about how much someone steals but we should worry about how much we spend prosecuting them???? You are an idiot. That's like saying if you stabbed someone just once and they die, it isn't really murder! You have to stab them bunches of times. Let me repeat...you are an idiot.

Posted by: To Anthony & anon on Nov 21, 2008 at 06:48 PM
"But I have thought this a witch hunt from the time I heard Dr. Romei on tape wanting to correct any errors." If THAT were the only issue, I'd agree with you. But the FIRST thing I found when I was voted onto the board of a 501c, absolutely THE FIRST thing I was told was that it was ILLEGAL to make political contributions with nonprofit money. AND then "fixing" his factor of 20 overestimate of the cost of lighting the firefighter statue by "accepting" the money as a consulting fee really took the cake, especially since BOTH the political contributions AND the consulting fee were hidden from auditors by "misclassifying" them as legitimate expenses. And, especially for the political contributions for political races long since over, how would you propose Romei "correct" his mistake; change the accounts from "MARKETING" to a new category called "HIGHLY ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS"?

Posted by: Joey Location: cs on Nov 21, 2008 at 06:41 PM
WHITE MAN= PROBATION. WELL ALL KNOW THE GUY WILL BE FOUND GUILTY AND HE WILL NOT PAY THE CONSEQUENCES THE RIGHT WAY. IT'S SAD BUT THAT THE TRUTH.

Posted by: Native Bryanite Location: BRYAN on Nov 21, 2008 at 06:09 PM
To Anthgony: Having known Judge Smith, Bill Turner and Billy Carter for years, I would assume that Judge Smith was being fair and that someone of "Racehorse" Haynes stature was probably grasping at straws trying to defend this thing. He has worked miracles before (T. Cullen Davis of Ft. Worth back in the 70's). I actually got to serve on my first jury a couple of weeks ago. It seemed cut & dried to me (DWI - all on police video dash-cam) but I have to commend the public defender for trying everything he could think of as a defense to try and create "reasonable doubt" even though it was obvious his client was snockered. Given P. David's antics, I can only hope that the jury decides guilty on all counts, but at the same time I hope they are doing due diligence so that if he tries to appeal there will not be a case. I just wish P. David would go far, far away and we could re-name the arts center so we can forget this whole nightmare.

Posted by: Watcher Location: Bryan on Nov 21, 2008 at 06:06 PM
A couple of things: 1) Judge Smith sustains or overules objections on the basis of law, not on his personal opinion 2) no punishment is being discussed by the jury at this time, only guilt or innocence.

Posted by: Steven Location: College Station on Nov 21, 2008 at 05:36 PM
How has this jury not been able to come up with a verdict? I think the evidence is quite clear. Mr. Romei had access to the Arts Councils money, used it for personal reasons (stole it), and never had any intentions of paying it back. That is, until he was confronted and caught. Oh, but he claims he simply forgot to pay it back. He really meant to pay it back. And how many times did he "forget" to pay it back. Please!! Mr. Romei, man up to what you did. You stole the money and got caught. Simple as that. But I'm sure you'll just get probation since they all feel sorry for you. I personally think you should do some time in jail. Maybe you could do some memory games to help that memory of yours!

Posted by: Curious Location: CS on Nov 21, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Is the court room open to any citizen who wants to view the verdict in person?

Posted by: A on Nov 21, 2008 at 04:57 PM
I agree with Anthgony about the Judge and it NOT being a level playing field. But I have thought this a witch hunt from the time I heard Dr. Romei on tape wanting to correct any errors.

Posted by: Kim Location: Bryan on Nov 21, 2008 at 04:24 PM
I am thinking it will be guilty on all charges,,but with probation and restitution.

Posted by: Anonymous on Nov 21, 2008 at 04:02 PM
I think it is very suspicious when the objections are one sided -- I didn't think it seemed to be very fair trial. It seems to me that this is a bit "Fixed" or polictical --- And please - we are worried about how much total here really.... How much was actually spent on the prosecution like maybe 250k or more?

Posted by: Kendra Location: College Station on Nov 21, 2008 at 03:53 PM
To Anthgony: The reason that the defense's objections were overruled was because they were baseless. The reason that Turner's were sustained was because they were good objections. Doesn't have anything to do with a "level playing field." An objection is either good or not, and the defense had a lot of bad ones.

Posted by: Linda Location: Bryan on Nov 21, 2008 at 03:45 PM
Anthony, my impression from watching several hours of the trial is that Haynes' style really annoyed the judge. He seemed to do a lot of grandstanding, wasn't clear about the details of the case, and wasted a lot of court time repeating (and getting Romei) to repeat himself. If there was bias, I didn't see it.

Posted by: Anonymous on Nov 21, 2008 at 03:40 PM
To Anthgony: I think the judge was very fair and the playing field was level. Turner's objections had reason to be sustained by the judge and Haynes objections were worthless.

Posted by: bob Location: caldwell on Nov 21, 2008 at 02:58 PM
Are they supposed to recommend punishment at the same time, or will that be in a punishment phase or left to the judge?

Posted by: interested citizen on Nov 21, 2008 at 02:22 PM
This is beginning to look pretty good for the defense. 14 hours is a long time, even if there are a lot of charges...I am thinking either not guilty or hung jury. I guess we will see.

Posted by: David Location: College Station on Nov 21, 2008 at 01:22 PM
How is it determined which comments get posted on the live blog?

Posted by: Anthgony Location: Bryan on Nov 21, 2008 at 09:16 AM
What's up with this judge? Couldn't help but notice that, with very few acexceptions, he sustained all of Turners objections and over-ruled all of Haynes objections. It wasn't even CLOSE. Didn't appear to be a level playing field. Whatdoes everyone else think?

Posted by: Simon Location: BCS on Nov 20, 2008 at 10:40 PM
10 to 1 says he gets probation or adjudicated sentence. Whats with the rash of stealing from employers lately? Does anyone REALLY think they are so valuable that they can dip into the till at will?

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