Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez was convicted by a jury today on five of six charges in his bribery and extortion trial.
The trial lasted about one month, but the long-running revelations date back more than three years to the original story on February 3, 2007 in The Hartford Courant that prompted prosecutors to begin an investigation.
The prosecutors mentioned The Courant's story at the beginning of the arrest warrant affidavit that provided multiple details about the government's case against Perez. Perez always maintained his innocence and said he wanted to tell his side of the story, but he never testified in the trial.
Perez faces a maximum of 55 years in prison, and he also faces a mandatory minimum of one year on each of the five convictions.