Court Reporting
Michael Brick
A sentencing comes alive: The end brought no mercy for Paul Siminovsky.
It came more than four years after he was arrested in cinematic fashion: pulled over in his car, driven to a secluded room at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and seated before a half-dozen investigators to face the evidence of his crimes.
It came after he had confessed to bribery, participated in a sting, lost his license to work as a divorce lawyer and testified in court for nearly 13 days at two trials. It came after he had helped prosecutors win convictions or guilty pleas from nine people, among them a sitting matrimonial judge and the leader of the Kings County Democratic Party.
It came in a half-empty courtroom yesterday afternoon in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, where the once-powerful men he had helped expose had been sentenced to prison.
It came despite pleas for leniency from a defense lawyer and a prosecutor alike — from all but Mr. Siminovsky himself, who pronounced his crimes beyond forgiveness.
And it came with reproach.