Former Rite Aid Exec Seeks New Trial

A former vice chairman of Rite Aid Corp. has asked a federal judge to acquit him of five of the 10 charges of which he was convicted in October and to order a new trial on the remaining counts.

The filing by attorneys for Franklin C. Brown states there was insufficient evidence that he lied about a drug-company deal or that he concealed information on proxy statements and other records.

The motion, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pa., argues that Judge Sylvia H. Rambo improperly barred certain jury instructions and should not have allowed prosecutors to play secretly recorded tapes of Brown discussing the investigation with another company executive.

“A lot of this post-trial motion practice is preserving certain issues for appeal,” said Brown defense attorney Matthew L. Stennes.

The U.S. attorney’s office has until Feb. 24 to respond.

No sentencing dates have been scheduled for the five Rite Aid executives who pleaded guilty in connection with the investigation of accounting fraud and conspiracy at the nation’s third-largest pharmacy chain.

Except for former Chief Executive Martin L. Grass, they all testified against Brown.

Their sentencings are on hold until pre-sentence investigations are done.

Brown’s request for a new trial should not affect how the five other cases are handled, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Martin Carlson.

Grass, who pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy in June, faces the longest potential jail sentence -- eight years, a fine of $500,000 and forfeiture of $3 million.

Brown’s convictions carry an aggregate of up to 80 years, but prosecutors have said his sentence would almost certainly be much shorter.