Mr. Boone, who compared himself yesterday to the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, said he lived in Brooklyn "with the people" to "educate and empower" them — a self-description one of the prosecutors, Kevin Richardson, questioned.

"How does removing the posters of opposition candidates encourage, and I believe your words were, ‘voter empowerment'?" Mr. Richardson said.

After a bit of demurring, Mr. Boone smirked.

"I would say ‘empowering' to vote for my candidate," he said as several jurors and spectators in the courtroom gallery laughed.

"So you empower them the way you want them to be empowered?" the prosecutor said.

"You can draw that conclusion," Mr. Boone, an aide to the president of Medgar Evers College, said. "I want my candidate to win."