Westchester Guardian/Richard Diguglielmo.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

SPECIAL COURT REPORT

“ADA Murphy’s Testimony Not Only Lacks Credibility,
It Flies In The Face Of Reason And Common Sense”
– Judge Rory J. Bellantoni
Westchester County Court, White Plains
Judge Rory J. Bellantoni Presiding

Nine months following an eight day 440.10 Evidentiary Hearing in the case of Richard DiGuglielmo, Judge Rory J. Bellantoni handed up a
long-awaited ruling last Thursday afternoon. In a 69-page comprehensive decision that took into account every word that was uttered
in the hearing as well as at the trial in 1997, Judge Bellantoni borrowed from one he called “The insightful and learned Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” who aptly stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutu-ality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”He then declared, “Based upon the foregoing, Defendant’s motion to vacate his conviction is granted. As the principles of double jeopardy have attached to the charge of Intentional Murder, as well as to other counts in the indictment for which Defendant was found not guilty, Defendant cannot be re-tried for said crimes. Moreover, as the underlying facts of the trial record make clear, as discussed more fully above, the circumstances under which Defendant shot the victim in this case preclude a finding that the Defendant acted with Depraved Indifference, under any theory or precedent, including Register.

Accordingly, it is ordered that the People are precluded from retrying Defendant on the charge of Depraved Indifference Murder. It is further ordered that Defendant’s conviction is hereby vacated and Defendant is to be released forthwith. It is further ordered that there can be no
re-trial without a new indictment, which requires leave of the Court. Under the circumstances of this case, the People may not seek leave
to re-indict. Based upon the improper conduct of the police and the People, any re-trial in this matter would be irreparably tainted. The People should not benefit from their misconduct.”

Judge Rory J. Bellantoni’s decision and order brings down the curtain on 12 years of lies and prosecutorial misconduct; one of the more horriffic abuses of process and miscarriages of justice in the Office of the Westchester County District Attorney, under Jeanine Pirro, one of the most psychopathic, self-serving political creatures to ever occupy the position. At her instruction and behest, Assistant District Attorneys Patricia Murphy and Perry Perrone, in co conspiracy with the entire three-man Detective Bureau of the Dobbs Ferry Police Department, under the personal direction of Police Chief George Longworth, coerced, intimidated, and wore down the only three actual eyewitnesses to the 90 seconds of altercation initiated by Charles Campbell, ultimately wielding a metal baseball bat, and ended in his death by a shooting that was clearly in self-defense.

Pirro, who was seeking re-election as District Attorney, for reasons of self-promotion, and consistent with her confabulations, distortions, and lies for 12 years, turned a clear case of Justifiable Homicide, by reason of Self-Defense, into a “Bias Crime” because the 32-year-old amateur boxer and bodybuilder, who was swinging the metal baseball bat at Police Of-ficer Richard DiGuglielmo’s middleaged father’s head at the instant he was shot, happened to be Black.

The decision not only exposes the criminality and treachery employed by ADAs Patricia Murphy and Perry Perrone, prior to, and during the 1997 trial, but also the obfuscation, and contempt for the Court, practiced and shamefully displayed by ADAs Timothy Ward and Robert Sauer throughout the eight-day hearing.

Bellantoni cites the “win at any cost” attitude and all of the disrespectful and outrageous conduct Ward and Sauer engaged in throughout
the hearing. And, with respect to the Dobbs Ferry Police, he observes, “Indeed, the hearing evidence showed that the Dobbs Ferry Police treated certain eyewitnesses more like suspects than like witnesses.”

Speaking of ADA Patricia Mur-phy’s testimony before him at the hearing, Judge Bellantoni states, “ADA Murphy’s testimony not only
lacks credibility, it flies in the face of reason and common sense.” The Judge goes on to say, “What is further troubling is ADA Murphy’s lack of concern as to why Mr. Dillon first stated that Defendant acted in self-defense, and days later gave a contradictory statement, particularly since she was the lead, and most senior, Assistant District Attorney prosecuting the matter.”

After enumerating several instances of Patricia Murphy’s prosecutorial misconduct and lack of credibility before his Court, Judge Bellantoni
quotes from In re: Doe 801F. Supp. 478, 1992, declaring, “Prosecutors are shepherds of justice. When a government lawyer, with enormous resources at his or her disposal abuses power and ignores ethical standards, he or she not only undermines public trust, but in-flicts
damage beyond calculation to the System Of Justice. This alone compels the responsible and ethical exercise of power.”

Quite clearly, Patricia Murphy and Perry Perrone had neither ethics nor conscience in their prosecution of Police Officer Richard DiGuglielmo. Upon learning of Judge Bellantoni’s Decision and Order, Tony Castro also quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., declaring, “Justice may be a long time coming; but it’s never too late.”