The judge, Jed S. Rakoff, has already ruled that the plaintiffs’ rights were violated under the initiative, and he told the jury that one issue it would have to decide was the extent to which Mr. Pataki or any other defendant was personally involved in putting the policy into effect. He also held that Mr. Pataki and the other former state officials named in the suit did not have immunity from liability.

Mr. Pataki pushed back vigorously during his testimony when a plaintiff’s lawyer, Ameer Benno, tried to show that he had been deeply involved in planning and putting the initiative into effect.

Mr. Pataki said repeatedly that he had left the details to subordinates, like his counsel and officials of the Office of Mental Health and the Department of Correction.

“I directed my team to work with O.M.H. and to work with Corrections to put in place the program,” he said. “I didn’t direct any particular agency to use any particular statute.”

He also said that he had not been involved in preparing statements to the news media that quoted him saying he had directed state officials to put the program into effect.

“That’s not how the press office operated,” he explained, saying that the office had the authority “to put out statements, including quotes with my name, based on their knowledge of the position of the administration.”

During the trial, the plaintiffs acknowledged their criminal pasts — one testified that he had been convicted of sodomizing his 9-year-old daughter, while another said he had sexually abused a 5-year-old girl while burglarizing a house.