Tampabay: Bonanno transcripts made public

TAMPA -- For months, questions have lingered about what a grand jury meant when it said Hillsborough Circuit Judge Robert Bonanno provided "incredible and conflicting accounts" during an investigation into why he was found in another judge's office after hours.

Testimony before the grand jury was kept secret, so the basis of that finding was not known.

That was true until Thursday, when the Florida Supreme Court, in a highly unusual decision, released 500 pages of transcripts from the grand jury proceedings.

The testimony revealed that the details of Bonanno's explanation changed over time.

The transcripts also reveal more salacious details about the extramarital affair of a judge who has since resigned, an affair that led to a torrent of courthouse gossip last year.

The transcripts could either spell the end of Bonanno's judicial career or exonerate him, depending on who's doing the talking.

"He can't tell the same story twice, and it's probably because he has a bad memory or possibly he's not telling the truth," said Jerry Hill, the state attorney in Polk County who oversaw the grand jury investigation. "But either one of those affect his fitness as a judge."

Bonanno's lawyer, Ralph Fernandez, challenged anyone to point to an inconsistency in the transcripts that supported the grand jury's conclusions.

"At no point in time during this entire investigation has there been any evidence of compromising the administration of justice or of any bribery or of any case-fixing or of anything that is legally improper," Fernandez said. "When all is said and done, he didn't commit a crime."

The grand jury investigation began after a bailiff found Bonanno, 57, in Judge Greg Holder's chambers on July 27, 2000, when Holder was out of town on military duty. His judicial assistant had closed the office and shut off the lights at 4:30 p.m. She checked to make sure the doors were locked.

About 5:20 p.m., bailiff Sylvia Gay, who is assigned to Holder, came by the office to collect her belongings. Inside, she saw lights on in the break room and in Holder's private office. She saw a moving shadow or reflection and called out "hello." She waited more than 10 seconds for an answer but got none, according to her grand jury testimony.

Finally, she said, Bonanno came out of Holder's private office. Bonanno told Gay that he had come to the office to talk to Holder. Gay thought Bonanno's behavior was highly suspicious, and Holder demanded a criminal investigation.

"There was no reason for him to be in there, none whatsoever," she said.

According to the transcripts, Bonanno told detectives the door to Holder's office swung open as he knocked. Later, he told the 20 grand jurors it opened when he pushed on the door knob. Did he turn the door knob? Bonanno said he could not remember.

He told detectives the door to the judge's office was "ajar." He told grand jurors that he meant "unlocked."

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent concluded that the door always swung shut and that it was too heavy to open with a simple knock. He also said Bonanno's story was irreconcilable with the one Gay told.

Bonanno, who has spent nearly 20 years on the bench, gave at various times to different people several reasons for the unscheduled visit to Holder's office: He went to talk about a case; he was dropping off statistics; he wanted to chat with Holder about ongoing courthouse investigations. He insisted that he was not "skulking" around, as Gay had described.

A few times during the grand jury testimony, Hill had to insist that Bonanno answer a question instead of rambling without getting to the point. Bonanno also refused to answer questions about his or other judges' sexual affairs.

Other witnesses told the grand jury about an affair Bonanno had for about five years with his former court clerk.

In his testimony, Holder said he was certain Bonanno was there for nefarious reasons, either to find something to blackmail Holder into supporting Bonanno's potential bid for chief judge, or to retrieve documents related to another investigation that Bonanno thought might contain embarrassing details about sex and other shenanigans at the courthouse.

The grand jurors concluded in a report released in June that Bonanno was unfit to remain in office. They called for him to resign, saying he had lost the credibility needed to be a judge. Such reports, however, have no legal authority and are only advisory.

Bonanno refused to resign.

Last month, the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which regulates state judges, ended a separate investigation with the recommendation that Bonanno receive a public reprimand, a relatively mild punishment. The JQC characterized his actions as a "misstep" and concluded that nothing illegal or disgraceful had occurred.

The only thing left was the Florida Supreme Court's approval of the JQC recommendation for a reprimand.

But two weeks ago, the JQC asked that the grand jury transcripts be released. JQC officials said they had read the transcripts before making their recommendation, but because the transcripts had not been officially released, they could not use the information in making their determination.

Now they can.

JQC special counsel Lauri Ross would not say what the JQC was after, only that she requested that the testimony be unsealed "in the interest of justice." Ross did not know when they might make a recommendation. The JQC can file additional charges, stand by its original recommendation or even clear Bonanno.

Fernandez was confident his client would keep his job.

"He has suffered the consequences and he has brought certainly embarrassment to himself and his family, but that is not a removable offense," Fernandez said.

The transcripts also brought to light more details about the affair between former Circuit Judge Gasper Ficarrotta and bailiff Tara Pisano. That inquiry expanded into whether Ficarrotta was involved in campaign fundraising for Hillsborough Sheriff Cal Henderson. Judges are ethically forbidden from raising money for political candidates.

Much speculation centered on a four-page document that Pisano prepared at her lawyer's request, chronicling the 11/2-year relationship with Ficarrotta. Later, it was revealed that Ficarrotta and Pisano had sex in the courthouse and the judge liked to wear her T-back underwear.

Some witnesses testified before the grand jury that Bonanno may have been in Holder's office looking for the document Pisano had prepared. Ficarrotta eventually resigned and returned to private law practice, which ended the JQC investigation into his behavior.

According to the transcripts released Thursday, Pisano said Ficarrotta told her to "watch her son" after the affair ended. Pisano took it as a threat, testified Gay, Judge Holder's bailiff and a close friend of Pisano's.

Neither Ficarrotta or Pisano could be reached for comment Thursday.

According to the transcripts, Ficarrotta considered buying a sofa for his office to make sex with Pisano more comfortable. He also liked her to wear his robe and nothing else. He "wanted her to feel the power that this robe had," Gay testified.

-- Contact Graham Brink at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com. Contact Dong-Phuong Nguyen at (813) 226-3403 or nguyen@sptimes.com.

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