FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Three more witnesses took the stand on Tuesday as jurors continue listening to hours and hours of testimony in Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo’s lengthy federal civil trial.
The first witness of the day was Mary Lugo, a well-known Carollo ally.
Attorneys for plaintiffs Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla have brought up Lugo multiple times during this case, telling jurors she helped as Carollo used city resources to target Fuller and Pinilla’s businesses.
Lugo testified her work for Carollo and his campaign was because of her affiliation with the union, and she said Carollo’s focus on the properties in question was in an effort to clean up the neighborhood, not to target Fuller and Pinilla.
But under cross-examination, their attorneys asked about her own repeated visits to their properties and her calls to code compliance, to which Lugo said she was just acting as a concerned citizen.
Up next was Dan Goldberg, the current director of zoning for the city, who testified that Fuller seemed to “collect” unsafe structures.
But Goldberg also acknowledged that on multiple occasions, several heads of city departments came to him about Fuller’s properties directly, which he admitted does not happen often.
The day wrapped up with Rachel Dooley, a senior assistant city attorney in Miami.
Her testimony was cut short by the end of the day, and she’ll be back on the stand Wednesday.
City Manager Art Noriega or Carollo himself could testify Wednesday. In Carollo’s case, he would be taking the stand for a second time.