Former Connecticut official convicted of bribery asks judge to spare him prison

Konstantimos "Kosta" Diamantis, a former state school construction official convicted of taking bribes, is asking a federal court for home detention and maximum probation instead of up to 13 years as prison sentencing guidelines recommend.

"Mr. Diamantis does not minimize the seriousness of the jury's verdict or his breach of the public trust," his attorney, Norm Pattis, wrote in a motion to the U.S. Judge Stefon Underhill at U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.

Diamantis is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 17 after a jury last October found him guilty of 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and making false statements to federal investigators.

He has been free on a $500,000 bond since his arrest several years ago and was allowed to remain on bond after his conviction.

The prosecution argued Diamantis used his position as head of the state's Office of School Construction Grants and Review to steer contracts on school projects in exchange for more than $75,000 in bribes.

In his motion, Pattis urged the court to consider all the circumstances surrounding Diamantis' crimes and the current situation of his 70-year-old client.

"He asks the Court to impose an individualized sentence based on all the circumstances rather than treating the advisory range as presumptively appropriate," Pattis said.

That sentence, Pattis continued, would not include jail time but would contain strict restrictions against future government employment or contracting, financial disclosure and monitoring, payment of restitution when appropriate and a prohibition against profiting from his crimes.

"His request rests on the combined force of his age, lack of physical dangerousness, loss of the position that enabled the conduct, financial ruin, loss of professional status, diminished earning capacity, family circumstances, and the limited additional sentencing value of a decade or more in prison," Pattis said.

Diamantis also faces a second trial, his state pension is likely to be forfeited, his $2,600 a month in social security would cease if incarcerated and future employment prospects are slight, Pattis added.

A second trial is scheduled for early next year for additional public corruption charges. Federal prosecutors claim Diamantis, who has forfeited his law license and is a former state lawmaker, quashed a state audit of an eye care practice that was engaged in healthcare fraud when he was employed in the governor's budget department, the Office of Policy and Management.