Assistant Attorney General William H. Downer said “meter-reading” qualifies an “official act” within the commonwealth’s bribery statute.
Downer said defendant Haisen Li “sought to prevent [Steven Villagomez] Mori from accurately reading and reporting the meter reading…by paying Mori $40 on four occasions.”
“Consequently, Li’s attempt to prevent Mori from carrying out his official act of accurately reading and reporting energy consumption via meter-reading is well within the scope of the official act requirement in the commonwealth’s bribery statute,” Downer said.
Li is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery.
Mori is a CUC-meter reader.
Downer said Li, through his counsel Assistant Public Defender Richard Miller, “conveniently neglects to thoroughly examine the common-law underpinnings of the commonwealth bribery statute.”
“The meaning of official act has expanded beyond its narrow roots to include almost any government function,” Downer said.
He further explained that the “evolution of common-law bribery statute” earlier “only punished judges for selling favorable rulings to the highest bidder.”
“The enlargement of the scope of common-law bribery occurred before it was adopted into the Trust Territory Code, and then absorbed by the Commonwealth Code.”
Earlier, Superior Court Associate Judge Perry B. Inos denied Li’s demand for a jury trial because he is not facing charges punishable by more than five years jail term or by more than a $2,000 fine.
Inos said Li is accused of making bribes of, at the most, $300.
“If convicted on these charges, defendant would face a punishment of a $900 fine and up to five years imprisonment,” the judge added.
