By VINAYA SAKSENA

PROVIDENCE — After extensive debate in court over what evidence could or could not be heard in the case, the trial of former Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan Oster has begun in superior court.

Opening arguments were heard in Oster’s trial on Monday, with jury selection having been completed the previous week according to the office of Attorney General Patrick Lynch.
The state, represented by Assistant Attorneys General Bethany Macktaz-Moore and William Ferland, argued that Oster tried to sell town-owned land to interested developers on two occasions for $105,000, plus $25,000 in bribe money, according to Beryl Kenyon, a spokesperson for Lynch.
Defense attorney C. Leonard O’Brien, meanwhile, maintained that the evidence brought against his client stemmed largely from cooperation the state received from former planning board member Robert Picerno, who faced similar charges, and whom O’Brien sought to discredit as a witness due to his own allegedly checkered past.
Oster was charged with four counts of bribery and conspiracy in 2002 following a sting operation involving Picerno.
Picerno himself had been indicted for allegedly accepting bribes from contractors, according to a previous Times article, and he eventually agreed to participate in a sting operation, in which he would deliver $10,000 to Oster while under surveillance.
It was partly because of this evidence that the start of Oster’s trial was delayed for so long. O’Brien had questioned whether the evidence obtained by surveillance in the sting operation could be used against his client. Furthermore, he made an unsuccessful attempt to have Ferland removed from the prosecution team due to his involvement in the investigation against Oster. O’Brien had said that he may call Ferland as a witness in the case, but a judge opined that the necessary testimony could be obtained from another source involved in the investigation.
Kenyon said the state would call forth its first witness in the trial on Tuesday, though she did not indicate whom that witness was. The trial was expected to continue in court throughout the week.