One block away, as a federal jury deliberated on Tuesday whether to convict Konstantinos Diamantis on 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators, Kosta himself sat in a restaurant, sipping a cappuccino and flipping through notes he’s kept of the federal investigation.
He jumped every time his phone rang, anticipating a call from his attorney, Norm Pattis, telling him that the jury had returned with a verdict.
But there was no verdict on Tuesday. The jury retired at 4 p.m. after asking the judge only one technical question. They are due back on Wednesday.
The calls came from his daughters, checking in.
With a half-eaten salad in front of him, Diamantis presented a calm façade.
“I’ll deal with either outcome because I have to,” he said about the jury verdict. “Nobody can control what a jury does and what they choose to believe.”
Federal prosecutors said Diamantis took bribes in exchange for influencing lucrative school construction contracts. Pattis said Diamantis was public servant whose main concern was saving taxpayers money.
But Diamantis had a few bones to pick, especially with federal prosecutors “who don’t understand how school construction works.”
Diamantis opened his notebook and pointed to 67 different notes he had taken during the trial that he believes the jury could interpret to show his innocence.
Diamantis grew animated as he spoke, pacing around the restaurant.
When asked about his two days of testimony, Diamantis acknowledged that he’s not sure some jurors understood what he was trying to say.
“I feel good about my testimony. Nobody loves to be cross-examined, but I believe I held my own,” Diamantis said.
As he testified, he sat looking straight at the jury, not the attorneys — a deliberate act, he said, so he could read their faces.
“I got mixed vibes from the jury,” Diamantis said. “Some of them were nodding their heads. Some were taking a lot of notes, and some just had blank faces, but I do feel like they were paying attention.”
Diamantis talked about the support he has received during the trial from his daughters and his ex-wife Pauline, who is the sister of John Duffy, one of the state’s key witnesses.
Duffy was the vice president of Acranom Masonry, the company that federal prosecutors have accused Diamantis of getting school contracts for in exchange for $70,000. Duffy was one of the government’s key witnesses, testifying about how Diamantis hounded him for money after they got a contract at the Birch Grove School in Tolland.
During the nine-day trial, Diamantis took the witness stand in his own defense and acknowledged that Acranom paid him tens of thousands of dollars. He also admitted that his daughter was hired by Construction Advocacy Professionals, another company that was awarded work in Hartford, Tolland and New Britain.
In both cases, he said, he never used his position to benefit those contractors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Francis told the jury Monday that Diamantis essentially admitted to some of the charges, namely bribery, when he acknowledged receiving payments from the two contractors.
Diamantis said it was significant that his ex-wife sat on his side of the courtroom while her brother testified.
“Any reasonable person would conclude that being exes, and she was there to support me, speaks volumes who you should believe,” Diamantis said.
Diamantis is facing a sentence that could be more than 10 years if convicted of bribery and extortion charges. He is aware of the consequences he faces.
“I never thought I’d be dealing with something like this,” Diamantis said, adding, “Then my ex-brother-in-law showed up out of nowhere.”