Jury selection upcoming in trial of 2 former legislators

According to the Nassau County district attorney's office, a jury will likely be selected on Feb. 13 for the trial of former Nassau County legislators Roger Corbin and Patrick Williams, who were indicted by the D.A.'s office in July 2010 on corruption, larceny and bribery charges for their alleged involvement in multiple bid-rigging and bribery schemes in the New Cassel Redevelopment Project.

The charges resulted from a three-year investigation by the D.A.'s office, which found that the legislators allegedly participated in a scheme to direct a multimillion-dollar New Cassel revitalization project to a selected developer, Ranjan Batheja, in exchange for $400,000 in bribes.

According to the D.A.'s office, Corbin and Williams partnered with Neville Mullings, North Hempstead 's former Community Development Agency director; and David Wasserman, a past building and planning commissioner for the town. Mullings and Wasserman were indicted on the same charges, and will be part of the upcoming trial. Batheja was charged with bribery, and is part of a separate case.

Corbin, 63, had represented parts of Lakeview and West Hempstead until he was ousted in 2009 from the 2nd Legislative District seat, which he'd held since the Legislature's inception in 1995. Williams, 62, a Democrat, held the 1st Legislative District seat, which includes parts of Baldwin, Hempstead, Roosevelt and Uniondale, among other areas.

Williams resigned in the middle of his second term in 2002 after he pleaded guilty to federal charges related to fraudulent mortgage applications during his job as a banker. According to published reports, Williams was fined and spent several months in home detention. Shortly after his resignation, he was appointed by the county to serve as the director of Human Resources for Nassau OTB.

The trial will be led by Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof.

Check back for updates to this story.

Read related story - "Two former legislators indicted on slew of charges" - https://www.liherald.com/westhempstead/stories/Two-former-legislators-indicted-on-slew-of-charges,26732?page=1&content_source=