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CRUNCH TIME FOR BADARACCO BRIBERY VERDICT: Deliberations began 11:45 a.m. Friday, June 28, 2013
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Badaracco guilty of bribery
Links to key evidence -- The Rocky-Brunes Tape[s]-- and background below
BULLETIN: Verdict reported by Register Citizen
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The LCT
CRUNCH TIME FOR BADARACCO BRIBERY VERDICT: Deliberations began 11:45 a.m. Friday, June 28, 2013
Judge Robert Devlin's Instructions to the Jury via NHR
Badaracco trial: Transcript of conversation between Judge Brunetti and Rocky Richter via Register Citizen
Transcript also at:
New Haven Register
Badaracco jury will evaluate Brunetti’s credibility, meaning of ‘It’s Worth A Hundred G’s’
Story also at:New Haven Register
BACKGROUND
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CRUNCH TIME FOR BADARACCO BRIBERY VERDICT: Deliberations began 11:45 a.m. Friday, June 28, 2013
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Jury heard judge say ~!@#$%^* and ~!@#$%^*+ and pal say }£?! – -- Judge Bribery Trial
The Rocky - Brunes Tapes
Official Transcript
posted below
[NHR story 1st to update]
BRIDGEPORT–Judge Robert Brunetti of Goshen–the key witness in the Dominic Badaracco bribery trial –became more of a force for the prosecution Tuesday by his absence than when he testified a day earlier.
Judge Brunetti spoke loudly and with anger in his voice on a wiretap recording orchestrated by investigators on Nov. 18, 2010, and heard by the jury Tuesday. Referring to Mr. Badaracco on the tape, Judge Brunetti told his boyhood friend Ronald “Rocky” Richter: “He offered me money, can’t f---ing do that ... He’s f---in’ calling me and he’s offering me f---in’ money.”
Prosecutors were so happy they rested their case after calling only four witnesses ...
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[NHR updated Wednesday pm]
--
Official Transcript
The Rocky – Brunes Tape[s]
Audio segment played Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Bridgeport Superior Court
#DominicBadaraccoBriberyTrial
[From a conversation arranged and taped by investigators of the Chief State’s Attorney’s office on Nov. 18, 2010.]
Judge Robert Brunetti – RB
Ronald [“Rocky”] Richter – RR
RR: Hello?
RB: Rocky … Brunes.
RR: What’s up?
RB: Well you called.
RB: What are you doing, brother?
RB: Well I’m working … I just got through work, what the fuck?
RR: You can’t, ah, wha ... you don’t work that late!
RB: I, well, we had a shooting today over there in Bristol. Did you read the –
RR: Where?
RB: Don’t you watch the news for Christs sake? Hey listen –
RR: Where?
RB: … you, you called me this morning. What’s up?
RR: What’s going on? What’s going on with that Badaracco?
RB: I don’t know. It’s a grand jury. It’s secret. I can’t get involved in that. You know that. I told him that.
RR: He called, did he call you yesterday?
RB: He called me yesterday. Did he call me from your cell phone?
RR: Yeah.
RB: What are you crazy, giving him the phone?
RR: Yeah, no, no more.
RB: Yah.
RB: … did you give him the number?
RR: What did he say?
RB: Well he offered me money! Can’t fucking do that.
RR: No, no don’t … don’t take it.
RB: Well I’m not, hah …
RR: He, he wanted me to do that last week. He wanted me to do it. He said, ‘I gotta give Brunes something.’ So, I uh, I told him I wouldn’t call you. I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t even, ahh … you know what?
RB: Who’s his lawyer?
RR: Meehan? Meehan up in Bridgeport?
RB: Oh, Meehan? Okay. Dick Meehan? Okay.
RR: Yeah.
RB: Well, he’s got a good lawyer. But, you know, he’s fuckin’ calling me and he’s offering me fuckin’ money. What’s he want, what’s he expect me to do?
RR: Nuthin’. I told him I wouldn’t call you. I told you, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t call you. He wanted me to call you say, hey, I gotta call ya for somethin’. I know that, what’s up? Hey, hey, they might have him on tape.
RB: Well, I don’t know …
RR: They, they might …
RB: Well, I don’t know. You know it’s –
RR: They might have my cell phone tapped, they, you never know.
RB: You know, it’s, I –
RR: I don’t know. I don’t give a shit. I don’t know, I don’t know nothing about it, and I don’t care.
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Badaracco Lawyer Hammers Brunetti in Judge Bribery Trial
BRIDGEPORT – Did Dominic Badaracco really offer a $100,000 bribe to a judge? Is the judge a credible witness?
Defense attorney Richard Meehan hammered away Monday at the prosecution’s key witness – Judge Robert Brunetti of Goshen – getting the judge to admit he made mistakes in sworn statements and acted unethically by disclosing grand jury information.
The confrontational cross-examination in Bridgeport Superior Court highlighted the opening of the trial ...
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Case highlights CT’s dysfunctional, secretive courts
Katz and others must explain how and why the Blue Note was buried. Why did Katz request this memo? What did she do with it upon receipt? Who dropped the ball? Why?
It’s got to be rough diving in to the intricacies of a politically-driven, self-serving and unjustifiable murder prosecution.
Suppose you are diligent and discover the case was used primarily as a career enhancer, a stepping stone – and a human being was stepped on for no other plausible reason.
The easy thing is to look away – or not to look at all. Far too many of those who swear to uphold justice in Connecticut are practiced and extremely talented in this regard. If you actually do your job, you might offend colleagues ...
Complete column at Register Citizen
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New Haven Register
Litchfield County Times
Middletown Press
--
BACKGROUND
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It’s got to be rough diving in to the intricacies of a politically-driven, self-serving and unjustifiable murder prosecution.
Suppose you are diligent and discover the case was used primarily as a career enhancer, a stepping stone – and a human being was stepped on for no other plausible reason.
The easy thing is to look away – or not to look at all. Far too many of those who swear to uphold justice in Connecticut are practiced and extremely talented in this regard. If you actually do your job, you might offend colleagues ...
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--
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
UPDATES: SF Chronicle cites rehabilitation and redemptive memoir in Foreshaw case; AP reports clemency hearing in October/ Blumenthal statement
U.S. Sen. / Former CT AG Richard Blumenthal statement
6-23-13 on The BLUE NOTE:
‘The memo raises serious doubts about her attorney’s actions and constitutes serious new evidence’
BACKGROUND APLENTY:
JI story June 18 on Foreshaw clemency bid
Discovery of long-ago memo
gives killer a shot at clemency
By Alex Wood
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
As a result of the disclosure of an internal memorandum written 24 years ago in the state public defender’s office, a Bloomfield woman who was convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman in Hartford in 1986 will get a hearing on her clemency application.
A three-member pardon panel of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles reversed an earlier decision Monday and voted unanimously to grant a clemency hearing to Bonnie Jean Foreshaw, who shot and killed Joyce Amos in a store parking lot near the Jamaican Progressive League on Albany Avenue in Hartford.
In arguing for reversing the earlier decision, lawyer Erika Tindill, who chairs the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said the package of material originally submitted to the pardon panel didn’t include a 1989 memo arguing that Foreshaw had received ineffective representation from her public defender.
The memo was from Jon C. Blue, then a lawyer in the appellate unit of the state public defender’s office, to Joette Katz, then the chief public defender.
Shortly after the memo was written, both Blue and Katz were appointed to be Superior Court judges. Katz went on to serve on the state Supreme Court and is now commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families, while Blue has remained a Superior Court judge.
Andy Thibault, a blogger and contributing editor to the Litchfield County Times, obtained the memo and discussed it in a series of columns advocating re-examination of Foreshaw’s case.
Foreshaw admitted in testimony during her 1987 trial in Hartford Superior Court that she fired the shot that killed Amos. The issue in her case has always been whether the shooting constituted murder, a lesser crime such as manslaughter, or even a legally justified use of force in self-defense.
No one has suggested that the pregnant Amos was a threat to Foreshaw. The theory of Foreshaw’s defense has always been that she felt threatened by a man named Hector Freeman, who was with Amos — and that Amos was hit by a shot Foreshaw intended to fire in the air to scare Freeman away.
The position taken by Foreshaw and her public defender, Dennis O’Toole, at her trial was that she committed the shooting due to “extreme emotional disturbance” stemming from childhood abuse and two abusive marriages. Under Connecticut law, a jury finding that an intentional killing stemmed from extreme emotional disturbance converts the crime from murder to first-degree manslaughter.
The jury at Foreshaw’s trial declined to make such a finding. But Blue argued in the memo, provided to the Journal Inquirer by Thibault, that O’Toole hadn’t adequately presented the “mental state defense.”
Blue said, for example, that Foreshaw’s husband had beaten her on the head with a baseball bat two years before and she had spent two weeks in the hospital — but no hospital records were produced at her trial.
Blue also faulted O’Toole for failing to pursue a motion to keep the jury from hearing about the confession Foreshaw wrote out by hand after an interrogation lasting from 2 or 2:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. on the day of the shooting, March 27, 1986. Foreshaw wrote in the statement that she didn’t want to waive her rights and sign it.
The legal admissibility of Foreshaw’s statement “has never been assessed or challenged or tested in any court anywhere,” her current lawyer, Richard Emanuel of Guilford, told the panel at Monday’s meeting, held at the Board of Pardons and Paroles office opposite the Waterbury green.
Emanuel and lawyer Mary E. Werblin of Waterbury are asking the pardon panel to reduce Foreshaw’s sentence from 45 to 40 years so that she would be eligible for release from prison. Emanuel said Foreshaw, who wasn’t at Monday’s meeting, would live with a granddaughter and grandson if released.
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Tactics and Evidence in Badaracco Judge Bribery Trial
Did attorney Richard Meehan in effect win the defense arguments he lost last week in the Dominic Badaracco judge bribery trial?
Meehan lost an attempt to block reference to the death of Mary Badaracco in 1984. But, Meehan was able to plant a few land mines for a potential mistrial or reasonable doubt.
Dominic Badaracco, 77, is on trial in Bridgeport, accused of trying to bribe Judge Robert Brunetti of Goshen with an offer of $100,000 in an attempt to influence grand jury proceedings in which Badaracco was a target as the prime suspect.
Badaracco was able to gain a divorce in 1985, while his wife was listed as a missing person. Although no body was ever found, state police, the state’s attorney and Gov. William O’Neill reclassified the Sherman case as a homicide in 1990.
Despite having the resources of state police detectives, the state crime lab and inspectors from the Chief State’s Attorney’s office, Judge Arthur Hadden, the grand juror, failed to make a finding in 2011 ...
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Monday, June 17, 2013
'Couldn’t Keep It To Myself' contributor Bonnie Foreshaw gets clemency hearing
WATERBURY – The state Board of Pardons and Paroles – acting on what Chair Erika Tindill called “new and compelling information” – voted unanimously Monday morning to grant a clemency hearing for Bonnie Foreshaw.
The vote by Tindill and fellow board members Nicholas Sabetta and Robert Smith reverses a May 1 decision …
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Friday, June 14, 2013
Bonnie Foreshaw Clemency Petition Reconsidered
CT FOI law applies
to government agencies
including
the state Board of Pardons and Paroles
SEE
DETAILS
BELOW
WATERBURY – Citing “new information” revealed recently by The Litchfield County Times (LCT), the state Board of Pardons and Paroles will reconsider Bonnie Foreshaw’s clemency petition during a special meeting Monday at 8:30 a.m.
The new information was a blistering five-page memo written by Superior Court Judge Jon Blue 24 years ago when he was a public defender ...
Documents starting to post -- including THE BLUE NOTE
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FOI:
No secret votes;
no secret meetings
(6) “Executive sessions” means a meeting of a public agency at which the public is excluded for one or more of the following purposes: (A) Discussion concerning the appointment, employment, performance, evaluation, health or dismissal of a public officer or employee, provided that such individual may require that discussion be held at an open meeting; (B) strategy and negotiations with respect to pending claims or pending litigation to which the public agency or a member thereof, because of the member’s conduct as a member of such agency, is a party until such litigation or claim has been finally adjudicated or otherwise settled; (C) matters concerning security strategy or the deployment of security personnel, or devices affecting public security; (D) discussion of the selection of a site or the lease, sale or purchase of real estate by a political subdivision of the state when publicity regarding such site, lease, sale, purchase or construction would cause a likelihood of increased price until such time as all of the property has been acquired or all proceedings or transactions concerning same have been terminated or abandoned; and (E) discussion of any matter which would result in the disclosure of public records or the information contained therein described in subsection (b) of section 1-210.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
How judge survived grilling on golf game and landed in bribery scandal
Related story:
‘For Brutus is an honorable man; So are they all, all honorable men’
- Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2
Imagine the pressure of being grilled in public by a legislative committee, just to keep your job for another eight years.
Somehow, Judge Robert Brunetti of Goshen survived this ordeal in April 2010. At the time, Brunetti seemed pretty juiced about serving another eight years.
Then, something happened ...
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Monday, June 10, 2013
Judge bribery case jurors will learn of Mary Badaracco’s ‘disappearance’
BRIDGEPORT—Judge Robert Devlin ruled from the bench Monday morning that references to the disappearance and death decades ago of Sherman resident Mary Badaracco will be allowed in the trial of Dominic Badaracco on bribery charges ...
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Sunday, June 09, 2013
RegCit: Students honored at Connecticut Young Writers award ceremony
State Prose Champion Kathryn Fitzpatrick with novelist Alice Mattison, a keynote speaker and workshop leader for the event.
--Bob Thiesfield photo
Story By Kate Hartman
khartman@registercitizen.com
@HartmanRegister on Twitter
New Britain -- Kathryn Fitzpatrick, a junior at Thomaston High School, never thought she would be named state champion in prose for her story, “Caught in the Weeds,” a short story she wrote in creative writing class, the first writing instruction she had ever taken.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” said the 17-year-old. “I thought I was completely out of my league. There were kids from private schools and from towns I had never heard of. I’m just from Thomaston.”
Fitzpatrick’s story about, “how people grow apart as they get older and the decisions teenagers make,” was the product of writer’s block. Her teacher, Marie Butterly, told her to write about whatever she wanted. Butterly suggested she write about what she did the night before. The story that was born earned Fitzpatrick $500 and the coveted title.
CT Young Writers Trust Announcement:
NEW BRITAIN – Two Connecticut students were awarded $500 each and named state champions in prose and poetry during the CT Young Writers 16th annual celebration Sunday at Torp Theater at Central Connecticut State University.
Kathryn Fitzpatrick, 17, of Thomaston High School, won for her story, “Caught in the Weeds.” Ailsa Slater, 18, of Westover School in Middlebury, won for her poem, “Blackbeard’s Daughter.”
Their teachers, respectively, are Marie Butterly and Bruce Coffin.
Fitzpatrick and Slater were among 20 young poets and writers honored during an afternoon ceremony preceded by workshops in prose and poetry conducted by New York Times Notable Novelist Alice Mattison and Connecticut State Poet Laureate Dick Allen. Ms. Mattison and Mr. Allen later addressed the writers and their families with keynote speeches.
Special awards of appreciation were given to two teachers, Victoria Nordlund of Rockville High School and Bruce Coffin of Westover School, for their efforts to encourage student writing.
The CT Young Writers Trust has awarded nearly $210,000 since 1998, affirming the work of nearly 8,000 young poets and writers. This year’s finalists were chosen from 400 submissions statewide.
“Year after year we are surprised and gratified by the talent, insights and verve these young writers display,” said Rand Richards Cooper, Vice-Chairperson of CT Young Writers Trust and emcee of the event. “We congratulate them all.”
Other award winners in prose and poetry were as follows:
PROSE
FIRST RUNNER-UP
Olive Kuhn, 17, Middletown High School
SECOND RUNNER-UP
Alyssa Mulé, 15, Greenwich Academy, Greenwich
THIRD RUNNER-UP
Christiane Lee, 17, Rockville High School, Vernon
FINALISTS
Allie Geilich, 14, Ellington High School
Molly Glynn, 18, St. Joseph’s High School, Trumbull
Justin Jaeger, 17, Canterbury School, New Milford
Justin Martin, 16, Killingly High School
Ben Schultz, 16, Immaculate High School, Danbury
Candace Wilcox, 17, Torrington High School
---
POETRY
FIRST RUNNER-UP
Phoebe Jordan-Reilly, 17, The Gilbert School, Winsted
SECOND RUNNER-UP
Peter LaBerge, 18, Greens Farms Academy, Westport
THIRD RUNNER-UP
Kira Hunter, 16, Westover School
FINALISTS
Riley Boeth, 17, Westover School
Hannah Gerhard, 18, Rockville High School
Charlotte Iwasaki, 17, Westover School
Alicia Kiley, 17, Greenwich Academy
Afua Nsiah, 15, Westover School
Conner Sloat, 17, Rockville High School
copies of works available for reporters
For more information, contact:
Rand Cooper, 860-232-4279, cooper13@earthlink.net
for works,
Elyse Pedra,
elysepedra@gmail.com
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Friday, June 07, 2013
Young Poets & Writers To Get $$$ Sunday, 1-3 p.m., @CCSU
Students from Middlebury, Rockville, Winsted, Greenwich, Thomaston, New Milford, Middletown, Danielson, Danbury, Torrington, New Haven, Stamford, Lebanon
16th Annual Celebration
click on images
for better view
copies of works available for reporters
For more information, contact:
Rand Cooper, 860-232-4279, cooper13@earthlink.net
for works,
Elyse Pedra,
elysepedra@gmail.com
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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Judge bribery trial tanked?
Editor's note: Trial testimony set to start June 24;
Follow-up columns to this post -
comment from law enforcement source:
"It sure seems like the fix is in. From what I understand, the State’s Attorney’s Office was never keen on pursuing charges in the first place. It was the doggedness of the investigator that forced their hand … everyone was turning a blind eye to it and shrugging their shoulders. These lawyers stick together like old time mafia."
“Rocky Ten Names” and Joey “I Beat Two Grand Juries” might not make it to the witness stand soon, but they are two of the many intriguing characters in the Badaracco judge bribery trial saga. Their history and relationships pose a challenge for anyone trying to sort out the case.
The long-delayed trial is scheduled to begin June 10 in Bridgeport Superior Court. The case of Dominic Badaracco – a prime suspect in the killing of his wife nearly 29 years ago – has been delayed several times since last fall.
Badaracco, 77, stands accused of bribing Judge Robert Brunetti of Goshen with an offer of $100,000 in an attempt to influence grand jury proceedings surrounding the investigation of Mary Badaracco’s death. Although no body was ever found, state police reclassified the Sherman case as a homicide in 1990 ...
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