© 2026
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scam Advisory: We have been made aware that an online entity is posing as Joe Donahue to invite authors and other creatives onto our radio shows. The scammers then attempt to charge guests an appearance fee for exposure/publicity.
Please note: WAMC does not charge guests to appear on the station and any email about appearing on a WAMC program will come from a wamc.org email address.

New Bruno Trial Date Set

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Dave Lucas
Published December 2, 2013 at 4:36 PM EST
Former Sen. Joe Bruno Faces Sentencing
WAMC Photo by Dave Lucas
/
WAMC
Joe Bruno, outside the Federal Courthouse in Downtown Albany 11.17.09

A federal judge has scheduled a new fraud trial in May for the ex-leader of New York's Senate.

Retired Sen. Joseph Bruno is accused of accepting more than $400,000 from a businessman for helping with state grants.

The Rensselaer County Republican led the Senate's majority for 14 years before stepping down in 2008. He has denied any wrongdoing, maintaining he was paid for outside consulting work.

U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe has set a May 12 trial date.

Prosecutors proposed February, while the defense asked for April after the 84-year-old Bruno had cancer surgery last year.

Bruno was acquitted in 2009 of five fraud counts and convicted of two others that were overturned on appeal.

Prosecutors re-filed those two charges.

© 2013 AP
Tags
New York News joe bruno
Dave Lucas
Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
See stories by Dave Lucas
Related Content