By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The owner of a concrete testing company facing 25 years in prison on a corruption conviction tried to kill himself during jury deliberations, court papers unsealed Thursday revealed.
V. Reddy Kancharla, 46, slashed his wrists and overdosed on sleeping pills on Feb. 19, after the Testwell Laboratories owner was convicted of faking necessary concrete and steel tests on some of the city's largest construction projects, including Yankee Stadium, the Second Avenue subway and the Freedom Tower.
Kancharla, a father and husband, was rushed to the emergency room after he was discovered in critical condition in his office in Ossining, according to court documents.
His lawyer, Paul Shechtman, said Kancharla is now in stable condition and was released into his family's care.
Although the concrete executive has no history of clinical depression, he had grown distressed and sleep-deprived throughout the course of his trial which began on Dec. 9, Shechtman said.
Kancharla had "not had a good night's sleep in months" because of anxiety over the charges, his lawyer said.
"It's just the story of someone who really was crushed by a verdict that could have gone the other way," Shechtman said.
The jury was allowed to continue deliberations despite the defendant's absence.
They were not informed about the attempted suicide, but the record remained sealed because of the judge was concerned the story would leak to the press, possibly influencing the verdict.
Kancharla's first trip back to court since the suicide attempt was to meet with probation officers at 100 Centre Street on Thursday, nearly a week after the troubling incident.
Testwell vice president Vincent Barone, Kancharla and others involved with the company were charged with faking test results meant to monitor the integrity of steel and concrete construction on large jobs that included skyscrapers and a terminal at JFK airport.
They invented test results without visiting the job sites on several occasions, an operation which saved them labor costs and boosted profits, prosecutors said.
Testwell was responsible for testing the strengh of consturciton materials at nearly every project in New York City over the last decade, according to prosecutors.
"Testwell’s conduct was reprehensible not only for its pattern of theft and deception, but for its utter disregard for the safety of the public at large, motivated by profit," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said Wednesday.
At the time of Kancharla's suicide attempt, the jury had issued a partial verdict and had found him guilty of falsifying records and other crimes.
He was convicted Wednesday of enterprise corruption, the top charge, and faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.
Kancharla and Barone, who also faces a 25 behind bars, are scheduled to be sentenced on April 7.
