Espada: FBI Using Black Magic Voodoo Tactics To Influence Fraud Case Jury
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Another week has come and gone and there is still no verdict in the embezzlement trial of former New York senator Pedro Espada.
And as CBS 2 political reporter Marcia Kramer has observed, the trial is getting weirder by the moment.
The jury in the Espada case failed to reach a verdict Friday -- the 10th day of deliberations. The trial has turned into something of a sideshow with charges of black magic and the Occult.
1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reports
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Initially, Espada took to wearing rosary beads and a cross he said were "blessed by my mother and my family" to protect him from and combat what he claims are black magic rituals practiced by an FBI agent to influence the jury.
"They have occupied four seats. The FBI thinks those four jurors are in line with our cause. I worry about intimidation. I worry about leaks. I worry about access to information during jury deliberations," Espada told Kramer on Friday.
Believe it or not, Espada apparently thinks that by sitting in the jury box during breaks, the FBI is practicing some sort of voodoo to reach the jurors who sit in those seats when they come into the courtroom.
"Yesterday's seating arrangement, which they are mocking this morning, is on jurors which are supportive of us. How do they know that and why after that fashion … the fact that they know those jurors are laying with us? I'm concerned about what they know," Espada said.
Prosecutors, who tried to prove Espada embezzled $500,000 from his Soundview Health Clinic, said Espada's charges are preposterous, but Espada isn't letting go. On Friday he had all his supporters and family wearing special colors, red and black, to "protect" him from the prosecution's so-called black magic.
"I have my energy source, the black and the red," Espada said.
"The representation of red is for protection," one of his supporters said.
"We know the spirit of Jesus Christ in us," Espada added.
Espada and his son, Pedro G. Espada, stand accused of five counts of embezzlement and three counts of conspiracy.
Has this trial turned into a sideshow? Please share your thoughts below...
