Ex-Judge Gets 1-Year Term for Perjury Linked to Zaccaro Case

A former judge was sentenced to a year in prison today for a perjury conviction in a cable television deal involving John A. Zaccaro, the husband of former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro.

Francis X. Smith, 65, former head of the Queens court system and one of the latest casualties in the city’s corruption scandal, stood impassive as the sentence was imposed, but had asserted his innocence before stepping into the courtroom to learn his fate.

“I remain confident that I eventually will be vindicated,” he said.

In imposing the sentence, one year in prison for each of the eight felony counts, with all eight years to be served concurrently, the trial judge rejected a Department of Probation recommendation for a suspended sentence and 2,000 hours of public service.

Smith could have received up to seven years in prison.

During the three-week trial, prosecutors charged that Smith lied to a grand jury to protect his good friend Zaccaro.

Zaccaro, a real-estate executive, is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 14 on charges that he sought a $1-million bribe from Cablevision System Inc. to assist the firm in winning a lucrative cable television franchise in Queens.