A lawyer for the son of ex-state Sen. Dean Skelos bungled his client’s name multiple times at the father-son corruption trial Monday, calling Adam Skelos “Adolf” before apologizing and then messing it up again.
“I’m representing Adolf, pardon me, Adam Skelrody,” lawyer John Kenney said while cross-examining a key government witness.
Later, Kenney referred to Adam as “Skeloff,’’ a repeat from last week when he fumbled Adam’s last name and called him “Alex.”
Last week, Kenney apologized for getting his client’s name wrong, and this week, he said he has “problems with names.”
The Skeloses are on trial for the second time in three years on allegations that they used Dean’s position as the Senate majority leader to strong-arm companies doing business with the state into giving Adam no-show jobs and consulting gigs.
Their 2015 convictions were overturned on appeal tied to questions about the judge’s instructions to the jury.
Kenney made the goofs Monday while cross-examining Charles Dorego, an executive with real-estate developer Glenwood, who testified that he received repeated requests from Dean to give Adam real estate-related work — often at the end of meetings about legislation that would impact Glenwood.
Dorego, who testified under a non-prosecution agreement, said the pressure was so intense that by 2012, he was pulling strings to throw Adam $20,000 worth of title-insurance work.
Prosecutors say Adam got the $20,000 but never did the work, which Dorego testified about Monday.
“I was upset because I referred him a piece of business, and I expected him to do some work for it,” Dorego said.