An 86-year-old real estate developer accused of giving then-Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet with six-figure bribes to win his support for projects violated the “public trust,” putting a politician in his pocket to satisfy his greed, a prosecutor said Thursday, while the defense countered that the real corruption lies with a former business partner who testified against the defendant.

“He acted with the corrupt intent to bribe,” Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Amy Zois said in her closing statement in the trial of John Elroy Wessman. “Who benefited the most to their pocket? It’s the defendant.”

Testimony in Wessman’s two-week trial at the Banning Justice Center concluded Wednesday, and the prosecution and defense presented final arguments to jurors Thursday afternoon. However,

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