Brian Leslie of Wallingford, a state prosecutor who now is one of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s 10 new nominees for Superior Court judgeships, was passed over for a promotion in 2002 and later began “subverting” the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the chief state’s attorney’s office, according to sworn testimony in a 2005 deposition by Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Paul Murray.
Courant columnist Kevin Rennie made that disclosure, and called Leslie’s judicial nomination into question, in his Sunday Courant column – which can be read by clicking here.
Leslie, who declined making any comment to Rennie for the column, is up for a confirmation hearing before the legislature’s judiciary committee Friday at 10 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Rennie reported on problems Leslie had because of his prosecution of a Stamford ophthalmologist, Richard Weber, who was arrested in 2002 on a charge of making false Medicaid claims. The case, which Weber’s lawyer called a “travesty,” was dismissed in 2003. Weber sued the state over his prosecution and won a $725,000 payment in 2008 to compensate him, Rennie reported.
The negative comments from Murray about Leslie’s actions were included in a deposition transcript that was among documents from the Weber lawsuit file that Rennie reviewed.
Rennie also has his own blog site, called Daily Ructions, on which he posted a separate item Sunday about Leslie. The Daily Ructions item, which can be read by clicking here, includes links to a four-part copy of Leslie’s 2005 deposition in the Weber lawsuit.