It’s High Time We Prosecute Rogue Prosecutors.

“One Who Would Enforce The Law Must Live By It”

We must no longer tolerate the unlawful and unconstitutional acts of rogue prosecutors, district attorneys, federal prosecutors, and special prosecutors, alike, who ply their profession as though they are above the Law, abovescrutiny, and accountability. William Pitt put it most succinctly, “Where law ends, tyranny begins.” It is no overstatement to suggest that the People of Westchester lived under a tyrannical regime for twelve years headed by District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, and, furthermore, that many in that regime, many of the key players, survive in the current DiFiore administration.

The mere fact that the chief law enforcement officer was the spouse of the most outrageous white-collar criminal in her jurisdiction speaks volumes regarding the level of news management, and election fraud needed to perpetuatethe power and the influence of that DA. Pace University Law Professor Bennett Gershman, speaking of Pirro on Cable television, recently declared, “she may be one of the worst prosecutors in the United States.” Of course, apologists, and others with some personal stake in the Pirro Myth, will say that every prosecutor has had their share of bad cases, hoping that the really egregious cases such as Jeffrey Deskovic, Anthony DiSimone, coming to light, and opening the eyes of reasonable people, will remain buried under a dozen years of self-promotional hype and media cooperative culpability.

However, one does not need a law degree to know that a prosecutor who saw fit, in a brutal murder case, to withhold more than 376 pages of Brady material (exculpatory information about the accused) and 52 boxes of exculpatory exhibits, was totally unfit to occupy the office of District Attorney. After all, One who would enforce the law must live by it.

Jeanine Pirro, elected DA in three fixed elections, lived her life, and ran the business of her Office, the Peoples’ business, as though she was above the Law. The withholding of a mountain of exculpatory evidence from Anthony DiSimone, as outrageous as it was, over a 13-year period, beyond her term in office, was by no means an exception, nor “a mere blip in an otherwise exemplary record,” as her apologists would have us believe. Quite the contrary. While it may ultimately come to be recognized as the high-water point of her prosecutorial misconduct, the handling of the Di-Simone case was totally consistent with “patterns and practices” repeatedly engaged in over the course of DA Pirro’s twelve year reign.

The kidnapping of Jing Kelly’s infant son, the intimidation and coercion of witnesses in the Richard DiGuglielmo case, the ‘tit-for-tat’ prosecution of Marci Stein, the malicious prosecution and conviction of Matthew McKerrick,the framing of Steven Nowicki for a crime that never happened, the use of a false confession in the Selwyn Days “double homicide” that was really a murder/suicide, despite the total lack of forensic evidence, and, in the Kareem Bryan so-called “Bedroom Bandit” case, are but a few of scores of confabulated, self-promotional cases in which assistant district attorneys, medical examiners, police officers, and expert witnesses, each of whom, for their own unethical, self-preserving reasons, joined conspiracies. Those conspiracies targeting innocent persons, prosecutions of opportunity, were knowingly and maliciously pursued, employing every prosecutorial misconductpossible in a cynical, depraved effort to win convictions, irrespective of the innocence or guilt of the accused, and with utter disregard for human life or dignity, much less any concern for judicial integrity.

The stain embedded in the fabric of the Westchester District Attorney’s Office by Jeanine Pirro remains today in the presence of far too many, once young and high-minded attorneys who were twisted and turned rogue, and left behind, in her destructive wake.

It is no longer sufficient to speak in generic terms about the atrocities that were ruthlessly and wantonly visited upon the DiSimones, the Nowickis, the DiGuglielmos. the McKerricks, the Days, Lee Holt, Jing Kelly and her son Tristram, and numerous other victims of Pirro’s tyrannical reign, not to mention Jeffrey Deskovic. All of them cry out for exposure and Justice. Indeed, the People of Westchester, in light of the horrific actions taken by assistant district attorneys, and others, inside, and outside of the Westchester DA’s Office, calculated to send Anthony DiSimone to prison for a murder committed, and confessed to by Nick Djonovic, can no longer trust, or rely upon the statements or intentions of that office.

As recently as two weeks ago Assistant DA Valerie Livingston stood before three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the second-highest tribunal in our nation, and lied shamelessly totheir faces, much as she had lied to the Appellate Division, Second Department, of State Supreme Court for many years, with regard to Anthony Di-Simone, and countless other innocent defendants. Livingston lied withouthesitation, without conscience, much as ADA Laura Murphy lied to the jury in the Marci Stein case in 2001, when she told them that two teen-aged student/accusers “had no financial, or other motive in testifying against their teacher, Marci Stein,” when, in fact, the DA’s Office, and Laura Murphy, knew full well that the students had filed notice of claim in Federal Court, and would ultimately collect $220,000 for their efforts.
The same Laura Murphy had no qualms about demanding airfare from Jing Kelly to cover the cost of Gail Hiler’s flight to Canada to kidnap Jing’s infant son. Murphy had no problem over-charging Kelly with Felony CustodialInterference, a charge that was inappropriate by definition given the husband who had been a threat to their child’s safety and well-being.

ADA George Bolen, who hastily retired just days before Jeffrey Deskovic emerged from state prison, had no uneasiness telling a jury sixteen years earlier, that the reason 15-year-old Angela Correa’s lifeless body was found with DNA in her vagina, and hair follicles on her body that did not match 16-year old Jeffrey Deskovic’s was because, “she had consensual sex with someone else before she was raped and murdered.” Bolen was lucky that Mr. Correa, didn’t beat the living hell out of him for defaming his poor deceased daughter, in order to convict another youngster who he knew was innocent.

Of course the family of Pat Morrison, the next murder victim of Angela’s killer, Steven Cunningham, have their own reason to loathe Bolen’s despicable prosecutorial misconduct.

And, then there is the Richard DiGuglielmo case, where a metal bat wielding amateur boxer, who happened to be a Black man, had broken the hand of a middle-aged deli owner, severely injured his leg, and was swinging for his head, when he was felled by “three shots to center mass” fired by the victim’s son who happened to be a New York City Transit Police Officer, with twelve years on the job.

The killing was determined to be a “clean shoot,” a justifiable homicide, by NYPD investigators. It was a justifiable killing even if the shooter had not been a police officer, but merely a civilian, under the Statute of Self-defense,Defense of Others. However, as a police officer, it was Richard DiGuglielmo’s sworn duty to do precisely what he did. That is, in any other County of New York State, but Westchester, under Jeanine Pirro; and, especially, notwhen the perpetrator was Black and the shooter Italian-American.

Clement Patti, Patricia Murphy, and Perry Perrone would team up to give Jeanine Pirro the self-promotional prosecution and conviction only intimidation of witnesses, to recant and reword their statements, the withholdingof blood evidence and other forensic evidence, and the poisoning of the jury pool by ‘trial in the press’ for one year, could produce.

Then there was Selwyn Days, a severely brain damaged man accused of a ‘double homicide’ in the deaths in Eastchester of a wealthy 79-year-old widower and his live-in lover/housekeeper, an undocumented alien fromTrinidad and Tobago. There was a video-taped false confession, produced after 36 hours in handcuffs on a chair in the basement of Police Headquarters in Mount Vernon. Naturally, the secretly taped confession contained no administration of Miranda Warnings, and was filled with no fewer than 37 mistakes of fact directly contradicting the police accounts.

ADA Robert Prisco, Medical Examiner Luis Roh, Psychiatrist Angela Hegarty, and a whole host of other conspirators teamed up to convict Mr. Days, when, in fact, the incident was actually a murder/suicide in which thehousekeeper killed her employer in a fit of rage, and then killed herself.

Three Town of Eastchester Police Detectives, Barletta, Astorita, and Kiernan, plus a uniformed police officer, who was quickly made a detective, all responded to the crime scene, the house, and removed several hundred thousand dollars in cash and bearer bonds, that could not be spent until they could locate and convict a “patsy.”
At trial the police could not account for the cash and bearer bonds, that evidence in the trial established they were aware of, and knew the location of. The prosecution could not produce one trace of physical evidence link- ing Mr. Days to the crime scene, although the deaths of Archie Harris the elderly homeowner, and Betty Ramshiram, the Home Health Aide, were brutal and involved a great deal of blood and violence. Not one fingerprint, no body fluid, or DNA, not one hair follicle, or footprint; nothing to link Selwyn Days, or anyone else, other than the decedents to the crime scene. Furthermore, there was no evidence to suggest that the Defendant or any member of his family had come into any money since the incident four years earlier. Mr. Days was convicted, and sentenced to two consecutive 25-year to Life sentences, soley on the strength of a false confession.

It was also a false confession from the Conference Room at Mount Vernon Police Headquarters that sent Mrs. Pirro’s so-called “Bedroom Bandit” to prison for 43 years, despite the fact that the actual perpetrator who matched the description by one of the victims completely, from his hair to his underwear, was turned loose in a major blunder by the Mount Vernon Police. The attorney for the accused, Mayo Bartlett, at trial, would produce an official transcript of a police telephone communication clearly indicating that the actual perpetrator was turned loose, and that “a confession would have to be gotten out of Kareem Bryan,” but Judge Les Adler refused to let the jurors hear it.

The case was prosecuted by ADA Michelle Lopez the Office’s sex crimes specialist, accompanied by ADA Calvin Scholar, neither of whom appear to lose much sleep over knowingly prosecuting and convicting innocent individuals with false confessions. Each has a particular propensity for working around the Constitutional rights of accused individuals, especially regarding issues of identification. This case was no exception.

The above-referenced cases are but a few amongst scores of intentional, malicious prosecutions, by many tainted, misguided assistant DAs who long ago stopped looking for the Truth, or the opportunity to bring about Justice. No doubt the first time they knowingly and intentionally sent an innocent person away to prison it might have made them feel badly. But, as they did it over and over again to keep Jeanine Pirro happy, and to continue drawing their pay checks every other week, it simply became a game.

It’s no game! What George Bolen did to Jeffrey Deskovic, what Clem Patti and Steven Bender did to Anthony DiSimone, what Clem Patti, Patricia Murphy, and Perry Perrone did to Richard Di Guglielmo, what Laura Murphy did to Jing and Tristram Kelly and to Marci Stein, and what Michelle Lopez and Calvin Scholar did to Kareem Bryan were all nothing short of criminal. Such mindless, malicious acts, calculated to deprive innocent persons of their liberty, are crimes against humanity, and must be prosecuted as such.

The time has come when we must enact legislation making it a crime for prosecutors to knowingly withhold Brady material, or alter evidence, or suborn perjury, or coerce false testimony, or false confessions, or tamper with evidence, or fail to give, and adhere to Miranda Rights. We must enact legislation that will provide for stiff prison sentences, as well as substantial financial penalties for prosecutorial misconduct.

The Westchester Guardian intends to contact every member of the New York State Assembly and Senate with regard to such legislation over the next several weeks, as well as Governor Spitzer, and Attorney GeneralCuomo, to discover their positions and to discuss ways of expediting passage of such necessary legislation. Professor Gershman, author of Prosecutorial Misconduct, is known to have long ago suggested such legislationand is currently studying, and writing on the matter.

Jing and Tristram Kelly Update: One Mother’s Agonizing Struggle Through the Courts of New York to Reclaim Her Child

Editor’s Note: Once again Attorney Robert F. Wayburn, who has been working on behalf of Jing Kelly and her parents in the struggle to regain custody of her now nearly 7-year-old son, Tristram, shares the latest developments in the New York County Family Court of
Judge Sara P. Schechter, who continues to stubbornly defy the dictates of the Appellate Division, State Supreme Court, which has been demanding for the past 15 months that she immediately bring mother and child together in visitation.

FINALLY, more than fifteen months after the initial appeal ruling dated November 17, 2005, the “expedited” neglect dispositional hearing is ended. Judge Sara P. Schechter of the New York County Family Court reserved decision on what dispositional order will be made in this case. The Court directed the attorneys for the parties to submit written summations by March 21, 2007 and the Court set April 23, 2007 as the control date for issuance of the final decision and then dealing with the custody petition filed by Douglas and Corrine Kelly in later November of 2006 following the reversal (in the second appeal decision) of the December 29, 2005 order granting them intervener status over Jing Kelly’s objection in the new dispositional hearing.

AT THE FIRST COURT APPEARANCE ON DECEMBER 29, 2005, JUDGE SCHECHTER STATED ON THE RECORD THAT UNDER THE APPELLATE RULING OF NOVEMBER 17, 2005, VISITATION MUST BE COMMENCED. The Legal Aid Society
Law Guardian objected, however, and argued that what the appellate ruling mandated was an “immediate” visitation inquiry and that the mental health status of the mother must be obtained. Judge Schechter thereupon delayed ordering visitation and directed that the mother be mentally examined by the court mental health unit. The report of Dr. Vazanna was completed in mid-February, 2006, and submitted to the family court judge on February 27, 2006.

THE FAMILY COURT JUDGE SHOULD HAVE ORDERED COMMENCEMENT OF THERAPY FOR TRISTRAM AT THE FIRST FAMILY COURT APPEARANCE (following the initial appeal decision) ON DECEMBER 29, 2005. Instead, Judge Schechter ordered a forensic evaluation of Tristram by a psychologist in California to be done. That order was issued June 21, 2006, a full seven months after the initial appeal ruling. The evaluation of Tristram by Frederica L. Conrad, Ph.D., in California, was completed in early October 2006-- nearly one full year after the initial appeal ruling.

FINALLY, TODAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2006, JUDGE SCHECHTER ORDERED THAT THERAPY FOR TRISTRAM BE COMMENCED and directed that ACS pay $800 towards the costs and that Jing Kelly, Respondent Mother pay $350 towards the costs. This will pay for 10 sessions by the therapist for Tristram in California. It is expected that a minimum of five sessions will involve Tristram
alone and then Jing Kelly will have sessions with Douglas and Corrine Kelly and then, at some point, hopefully within the next ten weeks, Jing will actually commence visitation with her son.

ACS OBJECTED TO PAYING ANY PORTION OF THE ABOVE THERAPY COSTS FOR TRISTRAM. That is bizarre as it is their unwarranted removal of Tristram from his mother’s care on September 1, 2000 (after Judge Schechter promised Jing Kelly Tristram would be left in her care and Craig Kelly was excluded from the marital home by the granting to her of a Temporary Order of Protection that very day that precipitated the entire tragedy of this family court litigation).

HOPEFULLY, THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY LAW GUARDIAN (after causing therapy to be delayed for their client, Tristram, for nearly fifteen months now) WILL PUSH THIS PROCESS ALONG. As noted by ACS, Tristram is not on remand status and they are not monitoring or supervising his situation in California and are, for the record, objecting to their having to pay for this child’s therapy or provide other services.

THIS IS THE REAL PROBLEM WITH NEW YORK COUNTY FAMILY COURT JUDGES, many of whom refuse to remand children to ACS with privilege of parole to suitable relatives or caretakers (in which scenario the respondent mother or father continues receiving services from ACS and other agencies) but instead prefer to “parole” or “release” the children directly to the relative, without any involvement, monitoring or supervision by ACS. So Tristram sits in limbo in the home of a nonparent paternal relative who took the child into his home without legal authority back in July 2003 and who took it upon himself, without consulting any mental health professional, to conceal from Tristram his true parentage and to allow the child to think he and his wife were the child’s true parents. These are the caretakers who chose this California therapist for Tristram, a choice made on their own and without any input from the child’s real mother, Jing Kelly.

The motion recently made by Jing Kelly to have Tristram remanded to ACS and for supervision and monitoring of the therapy process and of Tristram’s current living situation in California to be done locally by a child protective service in San Anselmo, California, through the Interstate Compact on Placement of Children was denied by Judge Schechter and opposed by the law guardian. Jing Kelly has been without legal counsel in the hearing since December 8, 2006. She intends to request the family court judge to assign a lawyer to her to do the summation and to provide said lawyer with free trial transcripts for this purpose. The judge has directed the summation to address legal issues such as the standing of the maternal grandmother, Ling Mei Xing, to petition for visitation and as to what the proper order of disposition should be. There is no way that Jing Kelly, acting pro se, can adequately address those issues. Hopefully, the family court judge will grant her request for court-appointed counsel to assist in this regard. An 18-B lawyer was appointed to her on the pending adjourned
custody petition but that lawyer was told she could play no role in the ongoing neglect proceeding. This makes no sense whatsoever. This lawyer should be granted time to do a summation in the neglect case as well.

IT HAS BEEN FIFTY MONTHS SINCE JING KELLY HAS SEEN HER SON, TRISTRAM. I do not see any reason there should be ten (10) therapy sessions before she can see her son in a supervised setting. Tristram now knows he has a real mom living in New York City and real grandparents too and he should already be encouraged to write to them and call them and see them. I doubt Douglas and Corrine Kelly are encouraging this in any way. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO NEED THERAPY and maybe the judge here and law guardian and ACS too.

Bob Wayburn

Our Readers Respond...

Reader Takes Issue With Camacho Column

Dear Editor:

Regarding Ms. Camacho’s column, “Bilingual Kids” in your March 1 edition, let’s not get confused here, we are in America. Children entering United States schools should be taught English like millions of immigrants before them and throughout time, in order to be a productive part of society.

Yes, I agree that children should learn a language at an early age, but let’s not get confused here, folks. English-speaking children at the kindergarten level need to learn their ABC’s before they can learn to speak another language. And let’s not use the language as an excuse.


Name Withheld

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You


Dear Editor:

We would like to thank the unknown Good Samaritan who was kind enough to stop on Sunday night, February 11 to pick up our 16 year old nearly blind and deaf Black miniature Schnauzer, Mr Max, wandering on Fenimore Road in 25 degree temperature. This person took the time and effort to bring him to the Animal Shelter in New Rochelle, without leaving his name, from where we got him home not too much worse
for the experience.

THANK YOU FOR GIVING MAX AND US A REPRIEVE for whatever time he has left. You have been the vital cog in what I cannot help but feel is a miracle and a blessing from the universe from which there are lessons for all of us to be learned, not the least of which is the courage of a little dog who never gave up and which has reaffirmed the basic goodness and kindness of people.

David H. Gordon, Rosalind M Gordon, Annette Johnson


Dear Editor:

I was inspired to pen the following after reading of the ongoing casualties our men and women are suffering in Iraq. I
was reminded of my late brother who served in Vietnam, coming home a lot worse for the experience.


“Soldier”

I was a very young man, maybe eighteen years, not more. I left my childhood behind me, when I first killed in a war. It seems yesterday I saw my mother, I kissed her at the door. Yet it’s some weeks later now, and I’m a soldier, trained for more. Historians will sully the defeated, does it really matter why we fight?

My nations leaders will say, “Be proud, for “we” are on the side of right”! Though reasons are worded different, is greed not simply, all the same? As I, young men are my enemy, dead I’ll never know one’s name. When I walked into the “camps”, I had to leave my innocence at the gate. Disposed of, and emaciated masses, the sight of these, made my soul irate. When in the jungle I sat ambush, deadly quiet, in the dark of night. I wondered if I’d see my enemy, feared who might die in the fight. One time I lifted up a small boy, I carried him; I tended to his wounds. Though I tried to ease and comfort him, I saw his young life end, to soon. The hauntings have all been with me, since I ended the first life that day. For these I did received many medals, when I die, these ghosts may go away!

David Boudreau 2/07

Editor’s Note: The following correspondence was received last week from Mr. Marousek of Cortlandt Manor and We believe it’s content was worthy of our readers’ attention.

Dear Assemblywoman Galef & Assemblyman Ball,


Yesterday I came across an article, “NYS Assembly Passes Ethics Reform Bill”, in The Westchester Guardian and must admit that I was shocked!!!! What a low opinion our leaders have of the voting public to pass this off as “Ethics Reform”! NYS is in deep trouble if this bill is truly considered ethical or reform. This feeble attempt at ethics reform would almost be laughable if it were not so serious to the political, social and economic life of our State. It brings the art of “Double-speak” and political “Smoke and Mirrors” to new heights.

How can you say: “Virtually ban all gifts from lobbyists to elected officials;” and keep a straight face? Virtual meaning; “Existing or resulting in essence or effect, though not actually in fact.” Sounds like business as usual. Yet another rule/law with no teeth. “Strengthen the revolving door rule................” How about “STRICTLY ENFORCE” the revolving door rule...... Rules and laws that are not enforced only encourage violations of any sort.

“Strictly limit lobbyists from paying or reimbursing travel and accommodation expenses;” Wait a minute! If you pay for or reimburse my travel...isn’t that a gift?? Oh, but then again there’s that word “virtually” and what ever we want that to mean. Now add “limit”; “the final or furthest confines, bounds or restriction of something..” and we have two two rules with enough open doors to welcome a “limitless” number of lobbyists.

“Increase the penalties for lobbyists and elected officials who violate the new regulations;” I ask you, if the old penalties obviously didn’t work, why should we expect the new “time-out” penalties to be more effective. How about “ZERO” tolerance? In most of the public service and private sectors, if you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar...you are FIRED! Are politicians any different?? In my mind the violation of the public trust is most egregious and damaging to the entire fabric of our society. How can we expect our you to respect the rule of law when our leadership looks for way to get around everything?

Lastly,creating a new Commission of Public Integrity is dubious at best. Will it have independent authority and power, or will it just be yet another politically manipulated machine?

Thank you for reading my tome. I hope and pray that at some time in the near future we will have real ethics reform and not another P.T. Barnum act.

Cordially,


Frank Marousek
Cortlandt Manor

The Advocate
Richard Blassberg

Nice Try, Larry!

Ten months ago in an effort to facilitate his presidentially-mandated investigation of “corruption in the suburbs north of New York
City,” United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael J. Garcia, published a toll free number, 1-877-ENDGRAFT (1-877-363-4723), encouraging citizens to come forward with information “to report abuses by public officials.” Since that announcement
hundreds of individuals have come forward with complaints and leads. Those complaints have involved virtually every aspect of contact with public officials throughout Westchester, including judicial and administrative abuses.

Several months ago a great deal of attention was drawn to an apparent RICOtype criminal enterprise in the Matrimonial Part of the Westchester Supreme Court. So many complaints were received by both the FBI and the Office of Court Administration, regarding the activities between particular judges and certain divorce attorneys, that Chief Judge Judith Kaye was compelled to insist that Administrative
Judge Francis Nicolai bring about an “historic rotation,” removing four sitting judges in June of last year. Judges are elected, and Larry Schwartz and Giulio Cavallo have had a corruptive role in a number of judicial races.

In the Criminal Part of the County Court there were allegations of collusion and manipulation by DA Jeanine Pirro with regard to selection of defense attorneys, and the outcome of some cases. There is, in fact, a much broader investigation into numerous aspects of former DA Pirro’s conduct in office. Larry Schwartz and Guilio Cavallo, together, and individually, played decisive roles in Mrs. Pirro’s
re-elections in 1997 and 2001, both of which were fixed contests. More recently, issues of ethnically-based voter disenfranchisement,
and election fraud have surfaced, and are being investigated, and litigated in federal court. The Justice Department is actively engaged
in dealing with problems in Port Chester that have effectively barred Latino candidates from succeeding in village elections. The Justice Department was present to ensure that there would be no “hanky panky” last November in the contest between Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Nick Spano for State Senate; no theft of an election such as occurred in 2004. Larry Schwartz and Giulio Cavallo were deeply involved
in that election fraud.

In recent weeks a struggle has emerged between the County Executive’s Office and the Judiciary, as well as the County Legislature. The issue involves a power-play by Larry Schwartz, who not only runs the Ninth Floor, but also totally controls the County Department of Public Safety. Schwartz is attempting to put the issuance of pistol permits entirely under the authority and control of County Police Commissioner
Tom BelFiore, removing elected, sitting judges from the review, and approval process, and any, and all, transparency or accountability as well. Both Schwartz and Cavallo are deeply implicated in the Pistol Permit Issue. Larry Schwartz, Tom BelFiore and Nick Spano were all in-
volved in the misappropriation of a $100,000 state grant, that was intended to bolster the effort to locate unregistered guns by the County Police Pistol Permit Unit, but which was instead used to provide a personal chauffeur for Nick’s father, former County Clerk Leonard Spano. As if to add insult to injury, the driver employed for Spano was Terry Malone, an officer in the Pistol Permit Unit, thus removing both the funds and the officer from the vital task of tracking down unregistered handguns. One such unretrieved weapon, a .357 Magnum in the hands of Steven Armento, took the life of New York City Police Officer Daniel Enchautegui. Cavallo, appointed by the County Executive’s Office to a citizen’s board of the County Police Department, for his part, is rumored to have solicited $5,000 fees to use his influence in obtaining pistol permits.

In recent days New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s Office has indicated its intention to be deeply involved in the investigation and prosecution of unlawful activities involving public integrity. Teaming up with the DA of Albany County, David Soares, the Attorney General will be looking into the process by which state grants have been assigned, and actually put to use. They will be looking for
instances of misappropriation precisely like the one Larry Schwartz was involved in. As these state and federal corruption fighting initiatives
have been announced with increasing frequency, the names of certain individuals in County Government, certain power-brokers, have been repeatedly identified, Larry Schwartz and Giulio Cavallo prominent amongst them.

Now, against the background of all the official attention being brought to the forefront in the effort to expose and root out public corruption, particularly here in Westchester, Larry Schwartz, last week issues a press release announcing that Westchester County had set up a new “misconduct hotline.” Citizens who wished to report “a complaint or a suspicion about a County employee” were urged to contact the County Office of Professional Responsibility at 914-864-7850. And, oh yes, that office “is part of the Department of Public Safety.”

The thought occurred to The Advocate that there just might be a little conflict of interest here, given the fact that Larry Schwartz created
the hotline, Larry Schwartz is totally in control of the Department of Public Safety, and, Larry Schwartz is most apt to be directly or indirectly involved with those whose activity will be reported, if, indeed, the report is not about Larry himself.

A call to the hotline number produced a courteous response from an officer who was unable to deal with my questions regarding the obvious conflict of interest. A call to Susan Tolchin found her suddenly “in a meeting.” A request made to her assistant for a return call from Susan went unheeded.

Nice try Larry!

Janet Difiore.

The Court Report
By Richard Blassberg

“As Judge Brieant said, ‘He was hiding in plain sight.’ ” Attorney John Bartels, Jr. referring to his client Anthony DiSimone
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
500 Pearl Street, New York City, New York
Dennis G. Jacobs J.P., Pierre N. Leval, and Sonia Sotomayor J.J.

Tuesday, February 27, Attorneys John Bartels, Jr. and David Feureisen appeared in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City, representing Anthony DiSimone, Respondent, in an appeal petition by Westchester District Attorney Janet Defiore. The DA was seeking to stay the February 5, 2007 decision of Federal District Court Judge Charles L. Brieant granting an unconditional writ of habeas corpus to Mr. DiSimone, and calling for his release, the barring of his retrial, dismissal of his original indictment, and the expunging of his conviction in the stabbing death, thirteen years ago, of Louis Balancio, outside the Strike Zone Bar in Yonkers.

Presiding Judge Jacobs opened the proceedings with a statement that it was the Court’s “intention to rule on the stay, as well as the
appeal.” Assistant DA Valerie Livingston, representing the Westchester District Attorney, and John Bartels, counsel to Anthony DiSimone,
each indicated their consent, and Ms. Livingston launched into her argument. Dorothy and Jeffrey Balancio, parents of the deceased Louis Balancio, each of whom had recently been speaking out strongly against Judge Brieant, and his decision, were present, as were two other assistant district attorneys.

Couching her argument as a matter of “States Rights” Livingston was very critical of District Court Judge Brieant and the relief he had fashioned in his decision under the Federal Rules of Procedure Section 22.54. Despite the horrific prosecutorial misconduct, the withholding from the Defense of 376 pages, and 52 boxes of Brady material, information, including a confession from the actual murderer of Louis Balancio, and corroborative statements from eye-witnesses, Livingston was arguing that the Westchester District Attorney wanted Anthony DiSimone kept in prison because, in the DA’s opinion, he was a “flight risk.”

When probed by Presiding Judge Jacobs regarding her assertion that DeSimone was a flight risk, Ms. Livingston proceeded to make patently
false statements to the Court. She told the Justices that during the five years that followed Louis Balancio’s death, DeSimone was unmarried, not receiving mail, and was unseen by anyone. She went on to assert that he had the financial capability and the connections to leave the country. Judge Jacobs interrupted Livingston to ask if she knew where DiSimone had gone.

When she admitted that she did not, Jacobs remarked “Just because you might not know where I’ve been for the last five years doesn’t
mean I left the country.” Judge Sotomayor compelled Livingston to acknowledge the DA’s misconduct, asking, “So you concede
the Brady issue you consented to?” Judge Leval quickly followed with, “You don’t contest that the Defendant would have the right to
contest re-prosecution in the State Court?” Livingston again acknowledged, but argued that because of the New York State Court of Appeals’
failure to definitively attach retroactivity to their most recent re-defining of the Depraved Indifference Murder statute Anthony DiSimone would not benefit from the current interpretation, and in effect would be vulnerable to re-prosecution.

ADA Livingston was speaking rather ‘fast and loose’ with very obvious stress in her voice patterns. Judge Sotomayor, apparently somewhat distressed with her presentation repeatedly suggested that she was confusing the major issues, and went so far as to tell her that her language was “sloppy.” She asked Livingston, “Would it be your position that the State would have the right to re-try on reckless endangerment?”

Livingston shot back with, “The ruling Judge Brieant issued exceeded his authority.” Sotomayor explained, “Judge Brieant was saying you won’t be able to try him for Intentional Murder because of Double Jeopardy.” Livingston insisted, “This is a State Court issue.” Sotomayor again told Livingston, “You are confusing two issues.” She then advised Livingston, “Judge Brieant had to assess the circumstances of the Brady violations. Once we vacate the conviction that’s holding the Defendant, you have no right to hold him.”

ADA Livingston continued to argue, “The legal sufficiency of the evidence is a matter for the State Courts.” Judge Jacobs next asked, “How
can it be reckless to jump on top of someone and stab him a dozen times?” Then turning to Livingston’s claim that Mr. DiSimone should not
be released because he was a flight risk, Jacobs asked, “Why shouldn’t we consider that the Defendant will be available if released to the streets?” Judge Leval spoke up telling Livingston, “A new trial is not the remedy for Due Process violations.” John Bartels next addressed the Court, immediately setting the record straight with regard to Anthony DiSimone’s circumstances and whereabouts during the five years
following the death of Louis Balancio. He told the Court. “The Petitioner was married in New York, and lived at a different address than
his parents. He lived at the home of his wife’s parents in Yonkers, and mail carriers and neighbors testified that he lived there.” He went on, “As Judge Brieant said, ‘He was hiding in plain sight.’ ”

Judge Leval spoke up, “When the claim is that the conviction was obtained unconstitutionally, has the person been imprisoned unconstitutionally? Then the relief is release him!” Having instructed the litigants that they were “reserving opinion,” within minutes of completing all of the items on their calendar, Justices Jacobs, Sotomayor, and Leval, issued their decision calling for Anthony DiSimone’s immediate release from Green Haven Prison, and affirming all of Judge Brieant’s ruling with the exception of his bar to retrial by the
State, an issue the Court preferred to avoid.

Analysis

Valerie Livingston’s voice showed great stress as she lied to the Justices of the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals, obviously
under orders from DA Janet DiFiore. At points, the panel, thoroughly familiar with the facts, appeared to be losing their patience with her,
particularly when she spoke over them.

Any objective observer must now question why DA Janet Di-Fiore, upon entering the Office in January 2006, and discovering 376
pages, and 52 boxes of exculpatory materials, did not make a clean break with Jeanine Pirro’s unconstitutional prosecutorial misconduct?
But, having chosen to further conceal it, thus joining the 13-year conspiracy to hide the truth, and to keep an innocent man behind
bars; why, after being caught, does she persist in wanting to retry, and convict that man?

Why did ADA Livingston tell the Court, “It’s an ongoing investigation?” And, what is the meaning of a letter to Mr. Bartels, given
to him the day of the hearing, and shown to The Guardian, advising him that there is still more Brady material needing to be turned
over to the Defense, more than the 376 pages and 52 boxes?

There is much more to this case that needs to be exposed. Mr. Bartels, speaking to the Court, declared, “I submit this is a rare case.”
Those who have followed the modus operandi of the Westchester District Attorney’s Of-fice under Jeanine Pirro, know very well that it is
not rare in quality, only in quantity, the extreme quantity of Brady materials withheld, and the elaborate prosecutorial misconduct by numerous willing co-conspirators.

Innocent Man Goes Home 13-Year Pirro Lie Finally Ends.

In Our Opinion...

“A Ringleader Of Atrocities”

We had the privilege and pleasure of accompanying Anthony DiSimone’s wife, Annmarie, his mother Diane, and his sister Nicole, who, together with Jeffrey Deskovic, traveled to Green Haven State Prison in Stormville last Wednesday to pick up Anthony and bring him home. Thus ended the 13-year torment and torture former DA Jeanine Pirro visited upon their lives when she decided the confession of the murderer of Louis Balancio, and more than 376 pages of corroborative testimony, and 52 boxes of exhibits were not good enough to prosecute Nick Djonovic because he was Albanian, and she needed an Italian killer to satisfy her self-promotional agenda. She wanted to prove that despite her husband’s connections to it, she could prosecute Organized Crime. And, of course, to her that meant someone whose name ended in a vowel, someone Italian.

It was never about guilt or innocence. It was always about making the DA look good, and, Clement Patti and Steven Bender who conducted the prosecution, and scores of others, including the trial judge, James Cowhey,who dated Pirro’s mother, knew it too. It would require four grand juries but Pirro would eventually get an indictment. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Mrs. Pirro could care less how many innocent lives she was destroying. She had done it countless times before. She could care less that she was letting the actual killer, Nick Djonovic, flee the country while she told one lie after an other to the parents of stabbing victim Louis Balancio. She was a great liar, so great that even now thirteen years later, confronted with a mountain of compelling evidence, including a confession, that Djonovic was their son’s murderer. Dorothy and Jeffrey Balancio would rather not acknowledge the truth, preferring instead to go on supporting and espousing a lie, if only to keep worshipping and believing in Mrs. Pirro.
We feel the time has come when the Balancios must acknowledge that more than 376 pages, and 52 boxes of information, including a confession, are no “mere technicality.” They will believe whatever their mentality willpermit them to. But, Anthony DiSimone did not kill their son!

Mr. DiSimone emerged into the sunlight of a new day last Wednesday afternoon to the waiting arms of his wonderful wife, mother, and sister, who never gave up hope, and, also into the arms of Jeffrey Deskovic, who spentseven years longer than he had to in state prison because of Mrs. Pirro’s cruel refusal to permit the DNA found in the body of his alleged victim to be compared with the State’s DNA Data Bank.

Anthony and Jeffrey shared several minutes alone speaking in words only those who have survived the ordeal of wrongful imprisonment can understand. When We asked him to characterize Mrs. Pirro, Anthony, an avid reader, reached out to Virgil, the Roman poet, dubbing her “A Ringleader of Atrocities.”

Never Again - Part 1

By Jeffrey Deskovic

The phrase never again, although identified with the cause of European Jews, millions of whom were exterminated under the Nazi German regime, is, in a broader sense, identified with the notion that ‘never again’ would the world watch while an aggressor nation invaded weaker nations, conquering them, and slaughtering a people while the rest of the world watched and did nothing, not wanting to get involved,
because of the sacrifice that intervention and involvement would entail.

In my usage of the phrase, however, I mean that ‘never again’, insofar as it lies within my power and ability, should anyone else ever be wrongfully convicted and go through what I did. Certainly, in any case, it should never happen through the flaws that are known at this
time to exist. We need to have a better review mechanism in place so that if a wrongful conviction does occur, it will not take 16 years to correct.

I do not believe that wrongful convictions will ever be totally eliminated. But, I do believe that the frequency with which they occur can be, and should be, significantly reduced, and that the laws in our criminal justice system that we know exist can be corrected. Collectively, we must insist that the injustices that presently exist be eliminated. No one engaged in the struggle may withdraw until they have done all that they can do, and then some, no matter that it will entail sacrifice and the diverting of some energies, resources, and focus from one’s pursuit
of individual happiness. How can anybody be at peace while others suffer?

Additionally, a lesson of war, reiterated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is that ‘injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere’. Perhaps today you are not personally affected, but how long will it be before you are? Can anyone be certain that they will never be? Evil never
stops on its own, it must be confronted and defeated.

We know, based on the evidence of the slaughter in Rwanda, Bosnia, and now in Darfur, that the world, once again, failed in its promise. Can we do better in this matter? I am committed to combating wrongful convictions, but I know that I cannot be successful by myself. Everyone must do their part, do the little bit that they can. Below are listed changes that must be made in the system, to ensure that others do not
suffer in the same way that I did, along with a rationale supporting each proposed change.

Will you, yes you, join me by contacting Governor Spitzer, Attorney General Cuomo, Speaker Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Bruno,
in asking that these legislative changes be advocated and enacted? Or, will you wait, doing nothing, until eventually, like Pearl Harbor,
the problem comes home directly to you and you find yourself, or a loved one, wrongfully arrested and convicted?

Changes

The ultimate goal is to bring about legislative changes. Below are the changes I am advocating. Having been through the system, I know all too well where the cracks in it lie, both from what I experienced first-hand, and from my studies on wrongful convictions, which I was forced to become well-versed in back when I was incarcerated and took to studying in a desperate effort to find something that I could emulate so that
I too could be exonerated.

You know, it is common that when we adopt new laws, we frequently name them after the person whose suffering inspired them, thus both honoring them and ensuring that neither they nor what they went through will ever be forgotten. Hence the appellations, for example, of “Jenna’s law” which pertains to sentencing repeated violent offenders and “ The Kirk Bloodsworth Innocence Protection Act,” whose aim was to protect innocent defendants but which wound up getting watered down before being passed.

Naturally, I would be honored if a bill containing my proposed changes were named after me. However, instead of it containing my first name, and thus being named “ Jeffrey’s Law”, I would much prefer it be known as “Deskovic’s Law”, thus making it easier for those
who certainly will come after me to discover who I was and what I went through. Not for vanity’s sake, mind you, but because I would never want people to forget what happened to me; that the awareness is brought home that a wrongful arrest and conviction can
happen to anyone, at any time, through a wide variety of possible ways, even above and beyond a coerced, false confession.

It is through this awareness that I would hope that a sense of alarm will be triggered in the minds of the People, followed by actions, efforts, and a never rest-type of determination until concrete changes are achieved, lowering the possibility of a wrongful conviction, and making it safer for everybody. Nobody should ever go through an unjust prison sentence as I did, much less have to endure that injustice for 16 years before exoneration.

NEVER AGAIN.

All interrogations must be videotaped

Videotaping interrogations would enable there to be a complete record of what was said, when, and in what context. It would also prevent police of-fi-cers from omitting those unpleasant little details that they would rather the world not know about. Similarly, some officers would refrain from some abusive tactics because they would know that the tape is playing. Videotaping would enable interrogations to be more easily reviewed by courts, juries, false confession experts. Additionally, the police practice, sometimes unintentionally engaged in, that involves providing suspects with intimate details of a crime in the course of interrogating them, then ascribing those details to the suspect, claiming that “only the killer would have know them,” would be seriously curtailed. Conversely, police interrogators would be more protected from false allegations of coercion.

To be sure, videotaping interrogations is not a panacea, for the tape does not show what was said or done prior to the tape being turned on, nor what happened once it was turned off. Yet it is always better to have some measure of protection, even if it is not total, rather than none at all. Of course, all videotaped interrogations must begin with the clear and unmistakable issuance of complete Miranda warnings to the suspect, thus insuring that whatever statement is made was voluntary and knowing and that the individual interrogated was aware that he had the right to remain silent, that any statement he made might be used against him, that he had the right to the presence of an attorney, and that if he could not afford an attorney, one would be appointed.

Other tactics which are known to produce false confessions and therefore wrongful convictions must be outlawed. According to The Innocence Project, with respect to DNA exonerations, false confessions have been the cause of 25% of wrongful convictions. There
needs to be many changes made in or-der to reduce the risk of false confessions.

Below are specific tactics which are currently in use which produce false confessions, and which should be absolutely banned:


Lengthy Interrogations

The treatise False Interrogations In The Post DNA World by Drizin and Leo, discussing cases of false confessions obtained following lengthy interrogations, declares, “More than 80% of the false confessors were interrogated for more than six hours, and 50% of the false confessors were interrogated for more than twelve hours. Interrogation-induced false confessions tend to be correlated with lengthy interrogations in which the innocent suspect’s resistance is worn down, coercive techniques are used, and the suspect is made to feel hopeless, regardless of his innocence.”

Threats


Threats result in false confessions.

When physical harm is threatened, either explicitly, via literal verbiage, or implicitly, then physical self-preservation at any cost becomes the goal. Threats of being overcharged or a longer prison sentence are posed, along with the similar game of we already know it is you, so
you are going away whether you admit it or not. How is it going to look for you if you don’t admit it?

Claiming to have evidence that doesn’t exist

This tactic results in false confessions because like threats, it conveys the futility of maintaining innocence. It is important to understand that this doesn’t happen in a vacuum, meaning all at once. Rather, we are speaking about a period of time, during which innocent suspects are worn down by psychological tactics, food deprivation, and lack of supportive people present to boost morale. Once a futile mindset
has been established, the goal of the accused becomes ‘since I am going to be arrested anyway, I don’t want to make it worse than what it already is.’

Use of the polygraph


Polygraph machine use has been linked to the obtaining of false confessions. There is a consensus in the scientific community that the polygraph, also called a ‘lie detector,” is not reliable. The premise of the test is that a person who is lying will become nervous and
therefore their pulse rate, their respiration and other physiological indicators will change significantly. The pulse rate is the primary measurement. It has been established that the test is inaccurate because frightened but innocent people often fail the tests because their
fear causes their pulse rate to go up (See Psychology Today, an article by Lykken, March 1975, pp56-60).

The purpose of falsely telling a suspect that they failed the test is to employ it as a psychological weapon to convey the idea that ‘the maintenance of one’s innocence is futile, we already know that it is you, don’t make it worse on yourself than it already is by lying to us’. Use of the polygraph should be disallowed because in any case, the polygraph is not accurate, and it has been repeatedly shown that
police are perfectly willing to misuse it, leading to wrongful convictions. It is unfortunate but, nevertheless true, that most often once juries either learn or get the impression, rightly or wrongly, directly or indirectly, that a defendant has failed a polygraph, they o en rely upon this to the exclusion of all else, placing a disproportionate amount of weight where no weight should be placed at all.

Having already proven itself to be an unreliable method from which many wrongful convictions have been obtained, we should outlaw the use of polygraphs to improve the reliability of results obtained in the courtroom. In my own Appellate Brief, page 12, testimony is referenced by the polygraphist that “When unable to say Deskovic failed the first test, he administered two more, and told him ‘…you told me within yourself that you did it. I just want you to tell me from your mouth that you did it..’ ” The polygraph was utilized to obtain the coerced,
false confession. My case is by no means an isolated example.

Interrogation Of Those Who Are Mentally Retarded Or Have Other Psychological Problems Without A lawyer

Should Be Banned

Th e reason for this is that often a hallmark of the behavior of the mentally ill is their desire to please others. It becomes obvious that police want a confession, and, in an effort to please them, the mentally ill provide false confessions. Consider the case of Earl Washington. Earl had an IQ of 68, and, as his case profile on the Innocence Project’s website states, ‘psychological analyses stated that “to compensate for
his disability Washington would politely defer to any authority figure he came into contact with.” He gave police confessions to five different crimes. Four of them were discounted as unreliable. Somehow one of them was seen as reliable and he was prosecuted based upon it. Earl was convicted in Virginia of capital murder and rape and sentenced to death. He came within 9 days of being executed. Ultimately he was cleared
by DNA, a er serving 17 years, 10 of them on death row.

In New York Doug Warney served 10 years for a murder and rape which DNA later proved that he did not commit. He was interrogated for 12 hours. He, too, had mental health issues, and an eighth grade education. There was no law in place to prevent police from questioning
him without a lawyer present, and he therefore gave a false confession which caused him to needlessly spend 10 years in prison. Prosecutors originally attempted to convict him for a capital murder charge for which he would then be eligible for the death penalty.

There Should Be A Pre-Trial Hearing In Which False Confession Experts Review all Alleged Confessions for Truthfulness Prior to a Confession Being Allowed as Evidence

Presently there is no pre-trial hearing whose purpose it is to determine truthfulness. The only pre-trial hearing that exists right now with respect to alleged confessions is a Huntley Hearing, in which the focus is on whether or not a confession was made knowingly, willingly, and voluntarily, whether the Miranda Warnings were issued, and whether Fifth Amendment rights were violated. This is not sufficient protection
to innocents, because normally no matter how horrendous the circumstances were under which the confession was procured, judges routinely
allow them in as evidence and juries regularly convict.

A hearing is needed to determine truthfulness, and this review should be made by those trained in this field, namely, false confession experts. By analogy, when it comes to identification testimony, before eyewitness testimony is allowed in as evidence at a trial, its reliability must first be passed upon in a pre-trial hearing, to ensure accuracy, because when that type of evidence is allowed in it presents a serious obstacle to be overcome.

Th us, the hearing is a type of protective screening method to try to prevent wrongful convictions. Such protection is also needed in the area of confessions. On page 950 of the Drizin and Leo study, it is pointed out, “In cases of wrongful conviction in our sample, 80% (35/44) of the false confessors received prison sentences of longer than ten years.

While the length of sentence may not be surprising in light of the severity of the crimes for which they were convicted, this finding underscores the potential risk of putting a false confession before a trier of fact even though the defendant is factually innocent.” On page 953 of the study they further point out, “The safeguards built into the criminal justice system failed to prevent wrongful prosecution and conviction, lengthy incarceration, and, in some instances, years on death row.”

To further underscore the risk and need for such a hearing, I quote another section of the treatise, which declares, “81% of the false confessors who chose to take their case to trial were wrongfully convicted. In other words, approximately four out of every five innocent
individuals who chose to take their case which was typically based on nothing more than a confession that was subsequently proven false, were wrongfully convicted!” Clearly, additional protections are needed. This measure will add another layer, another barrier of protection between the innocent and wrongful conviction.

Four weeks ago The Guardian called for the firing of Peekskill Police Chief Eugene Tumolo by Mayor John Testa. We promised that we would not relent until the Mayor did the right thing by the People of Peekskill. Once again, we call upon Mayor Testa to place the interests and the well-being of all Peekskill residents above his personal and political concerns. Mr. Tumolo’s conduct with regard to Jeffrey Deskovic demands his firing. And, if the Mayor fails to perform his sworn duty to the People, the People will take matters into their own hands come Election Day.

-Editor

Editor’s Note: Jeffrey Deskovic returns to the pages of The Westchester Guardian to explain in a 3-part series the changes in police procedure and judicial handling that need to be legislated to prevent the kind of injustice and unconstitutional behavior that put him behind bars at age 16.

Maliciously and knowingly charged and convicted of the crimes of rape and murder despite his innocence and the fact that his DNA and hair follicles did not match those found in and on the his alleged victim, Mr. Deskovic emerges neither bitter nor vindictive but dedicated to doing all in his power to prevent what happened to him from happening to others.

– RB

Our Readers Respond...


Courage Is Refreshing

Dear Editor:


One of my grandmother’s favorite sayings is, “If everyone is for you and no one’s against you, you must be doing something wrong.”
Congrats to The Westchester Guardian for going after Westchester County’s power-hungry, self-motivated politicians and others. Thank God and all Americans who walked before us for the strength of conviction of Westchester Guardian’s Publisher and Editor. Rest assured this weekly is the only publication for the residents of Westchester because the price of guarding all of us is high, and the Publisher and Editor can take comfort in knowing that the residents of this fine county are supporting you. I feel deep inside that all readers find your courage refreshing.

I write to The Westchester Guardian’s publisher, editor and feature columnists and quote the fitting Psalm 55 verse 22: Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. “When God is for you, who can be against you.”

I’m with you.


V.E.C.,
Mount Vernon

Reader Responds to Columnist Camacho


Dear Editor:

I found Ms. Camacho’s article about the anti-immigration e-mail petitions interesting and well written (Emails Encouraging
Fear of Foreigners, Feb. 8).

I disagree with only one point in the article. Namely that the businesses that employ illegals are the main and/or sole beneficiaries of illegal immigrant labor. I disagree for several reasons. One is that the customers of that employer also benefit from his ability to use his higher profits to lower prices.

The employer doesn’t do this to be a nice guy but because it is a good way to keep and increase market share. The employer’s fellow taxpayers also benefit because his higher profits will cause either his/her business or himself (or both) to pay higher taxes and take some of the burden off of them.

But my major objection to the article is that Ms. Camacho, like her opponents, uses a very misleading form of expense accounting. She starts her cost benefit calculations at the point in time that the illegal worker shows up in America: 18 years of age and ready to work. Like her opponents, she ignores the enormous expenses that U.S. residents and taxpayers did NOT have to pay to get an 18-year-old worker. Namely the many thousands of dollars for food and clothing that his/her parents spent. And all of the other bills that started when the pregnancy was first noticed and never stopped for the next 18 years and however many months.

She also ignores the taxes that all the residents of his/her country (including the parents) had to pay to cover the costs of whatever education the child received. And to provide the other governmental services like fire, police, etc.

Overall, the amount of money that illegals cost us in unpaid for emergency room visits, is trivial compared to the amount of money they save us in both avoided expenses and reduced costs of goods and services. And finally, the security of the United States has been is proportionately dependant on the foreign-born ever since Tadeusz Kociuszko designed the fortifications on the Hudson River. They protected West Point and kept the British Navy from sailing up the Hudson and splitting the colonies, transporting and supporting a landing force, etc.

That situation continued through World War II where only one of the top half-dozen atomic bomb developers was actually born in
the U.S. And it continues today in Iraq.

Dan Schustack


Civil Rights Should Extend to The Unborn

Dear Editor:


The political system of today is producing a myriad of criticism over the current administration’s policies in Iraq and at home. As someone once said, war is a monument to the stupidity of man. There are other ways of achieving peace besides violence. What puzzles me is that the critics of the war are not criticizing the enormous loss of life caused by abortion. An unborn child being developed in the mother’s womb has as much right to life as you or I do. It appears that our values are somewhat convoluted. People raise their voices and fists for in the air clamoring for civil rights, why don’t they raise their voices and fists for the civil rights of our unborn citizens?

We have been provided with the rules of life with the Ten Commandments. If we adhere to these rules we will survive as a society. If we
don’t, we will self destruct.

George Imburgia
New Rochelle


Keep Up The Great Work!

Dear Editor:


I’ve enjoyed your articles on the corruption in Westchester County politics, and wish you all the best. I know first-hand about the corrupt
practices of County employees. I sued the County Department of Human Resources for violation of federal, state and local reemployment
(veteran’s) rights, and also filed a complaint against the Law Department with the EEOC, for discrimination based on gender.

Thanks, and keep up the great work!


Name Withheld

The Advocate
Richard Blassberg

With All Due Respect, The Balancios Must Face The Compelling Truth, And Demand Accountability From Pirro and Company For Their Lies

Unfortunately the reign of a sick, self-promoting prosecutor such as Jeanine Pirro leaves in its wake many victims who must spend the
rest of their lives coping with the damage done by one so evil, and unbridled. Those innocent of the crimes for which they were maliciously,
and unlawfully prosecuted, and convicted, are left to struggle for years, all the while imprisoned, through appellate courts, often no
more anxious to expose the truth than the venal conspirators who robbed them of their liberty. And, those who are family and friends
of victims who lost their lives may never be able to accept the truth, as the result of the manipulation and lies which were worked into their
tortured lives in the calculated effort to obtain a conviction by any means, at any cost. Such are the human casualties, the Anthony Di-
Simones, and family, and the Dorothy and Jeffrey Balancios.

There can be little doubt that the prosecution of Anthony DiSimone for the murder of Louis Balancio by DA Jeanine Pirro, and ADAs
Clement Patti, and Steven Bender, represents one of the more outrageous and contemptible schemes ever worked against an innocent defendant by prosecutors fully aware of his innocence. The simple truth is that the Westchester District Attorney, and her henchmen assistants, were fully aware of who had murdered Louis Balancio, just six days after the killing. They had a confession, and witness testimony, but unlawfully chose to permit the killer to escape, electing instead to pursue someone with a surname and possible connections
more compatible with the DA’s personal agenda.

Simply put, an Albanian named Nick Djonovic would not help to convince Mrs. Pirro’s critics that she surely could, and would, prosecute
Organized Crime, the Cosa Nostra, the way a defendant with an Italian-American name would. As always, it was all about herself. Never mind the fact that friends of the murder victim came forward to say, “he was stabbed by an Albanian, as another Albanian held him.” Never mind, that if it was an ethnic street brawl it wouldn’t make an awful lot of sense that an Italian-American stabbed another Italian-American thirteen times. Jeanine Pirro would hide the truth and confabulate her own story, poisoning the jury pool over several years, and imprisoning witnesses who would contradict her theory.

She would commit every form of prosecutorial misconduct known, working her scheme not only against whomever she ultimately decided
best suited the profile she needed, but as importantly, against the family and friends of the decedent, young Louis Balancio, not exactly an altar-boy, out bar-hopping and hanging with a rough bunch, but certainly someone who should not have lost his life. For six torturous years she would keep concealed 52 boxes, and 376 pages of evidence that inculpated Djonovic, the actual killer, as she first indicted Darren Mazzarella who, together with his brother Nick, was already implicated, and in custody for the killing of at least two other persons.

She would eventually decide that a better target would be Anthony DiSimone because his father was reputedly a “made member” of an Organized Crime family. All the while Anthony was in plain sight living in Yonkers with his wife and her family. Despite Pirro’s lie that he had fled the country for Sicily, he was right there, all along. And, oh yes, it would take her four grand juries before she finally empanelled one that was willing to indict Mr. DiSimone! Through it all, the Balancios had to be wary wondering what to believe. But, no problem, Mrs. Pirro had some tricks up her sleeve. She had 376 pages, and 52 boxes of evidence that she knew would convince the jury that Anthony DiSimone was not the murderer, tucked away, hidden.

At trial she would repeatedly come into the courtroom, and would continue to try to influence public opinion and the jury with repeated,
public, physical contact with Mrs. Balancio, photo-op after photo-op. She had no concerns about the judge, James Cowhey. After all, he had
dated her mother, Esther Ferris. How difficult would it be to conceal Brady material from the Defense with momma’s boyfriend presiding?

Now, thirteen years after the death of their son, and seven years after an unconstitutional trial that convicted Anthony DiSimone, how can the Balancios accept the truth? How can they open their eyes and admit to themselves that they were even more duped than the jury, which refused to convict Defendant DiSimone of Intentional Murder, despite thirteen stab wounds? How can Mrs. Dorothy Balancio, who now prefers to publicly castigate and trash one of the finest Federal District Court Judges sitting in the State of New York today, Charles L. Brieant, ever acknowledge the lies, and the evil office that withheld a mountain of evidence, including a confession by the actual murderer of her son?

Instead, she and her husband would rather go on denying the compelling evidence, of Anthony DiSimone’s “actual innocence,” going so
far as to make up stories that there was conclusive DNA evidence, as Mrs. Balancio put it, “proving that Anthony DiSimone stabbed my
son, Louis, multiple times in the back.” There was no such evidence.

Th e Balancio’s minds are made up, and they will not be confused by facts! They prefer, in their state of unreachable denial, to attack a dedicated, humble, lifelong public servant, Judge Brieant, whose unenviable task it has been to bring forth Justice, while untangling and setting
down the evil, and unlawful confabulation that DA Jeanine Pirro egregiously perpetrated. Incredibly, DA Janet DiFiore has continued to defend that action by repeatedly issuing, even in the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the outrageous, bald-faced lie that there
was, “no link in the chain of evidence between Nick Djonovic and the Balancio homicide.”

It is tragic, indeed, that Jeanine Ferris Pirro was ever entrusted with the power and the responsibility to act on behalf of the People of Westchester, no less for twelve long, and destructive years. The DiSimone case, as incredibly shocking as the prosecutorial misconduct may have been, is not unlike countless other prosecutions over the course of her reign that sent perhaps hundreds of innocent persons to prison.

However, the DiSimone case is so outrageous in scope and evilness, so offensive to the sensibilities of high tribunals, including the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and ordinary citizens alike, that it will be the battering ram that nally blows open the door to the
evil inner sanctum that was the Westchester District Attorney’s Office under Jeanine Pirro.

There can be no turning back now. Federal and State appellate courts can no longer turn away from the monstrous truth that Jeanine
Pirro, and any number of her willing protégés, many of whom still inhabit the office, routinely violated the civil rights of defendants and
victims alike. We are not talking about mere technicalities, either. Quite the contrary, 52 boxes of materials, and 376 pages, a mountain
of Brady material, kept from an innocent man for 13 years, really says it all.

What must be kept in mind is that although extreme, even for Pirro’s Office, the modus operandi in the DiSimone prosecution was no
di erent than in hundreds of cases over the years, Richard DiGuglielmo, Jing Kelly, Steven Nowicki, Matthew McKerrick, and yes, Jeffrey
Deskovic, all victims of mindless self-promotional prosecutorial misconduct. I suppose Mrs. Pirro opened the lid to her evil thought processes when in her failed book, referring to all defendants, she declared, “Cage the bastards.” Just who the real bastards are is becoming
more and more apparent every day.

The Court Report

By Richard Blassberg


Jing Kelly Returns To Westchester
Supreme Court Of The State Of New York
Appellate Division, Second Department
White Plains, New York
Justices: Miller, J.P., Spolzino, Ritter, and Dillon, JJ.


Tuesday morning, February 20th Jing Kelly, who has been separated from her son, Tristram, for more than four years because of a
kidnapping and false imprisonment arranged and set in motion by former Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, and perpetuated
by New York County Family Court Judge Sara P. Schechter, appeared in White Plains with her Attorney Adam Seiden. Seiden,
who is a Mount Vernon City Court Judge, and President of The Westchester Bar Association, was representing her as an Appellant
before the Appellate Division, Second Department, State Supreme Court, in an effort to overturn her conviction of Second Degree Custodial Interference, a misdemeanor, three years ago.

Kelly, who was detained in the Westchester County Jail, without the setting of bail, for thirteen months awaiting trial, because DA Pirro argued, and Judge Barbara Zambelli agreed, she was a flight risk despite the fact that she had no access to her child, had been over-charged with First Degree Custodial Interference, a felony. In point of fact, she had removed her infant son from the home of Gail Hiler, of Larchmont, who had been granted parole custody by New York Family Court Judge Sara P. Schechter, but who violated the terms of that Court’s ruling by allowing her brother, Jing’s husband, Craig Kelly, to move in with her, thus obtaining constant, and full-time, unsupervised contact with the infant.

First Degree Custodial Interference was, by definition, clearly an over-charge because one of the elements of that crime involves
removal with the intention of permanently keeping the child away. Upon learning of her former husband, Craig Kelly’s death from ill-ness, Jing had voluntarily returned with their son Tristram, no longer fearing abuse and harm from his alcoholic father. Over-charging, as members of the Westchester Defense Bar are well aware, was a frequent tactic of DA Jeanine Pirro, whose jurisdiction in the entire matter was arguable, given that nothing done by Jing Kelly on the day she took off with her infant son for China, to protect him from constant physical harm, was not an offense until she boarded a plane with him in Queens County.

Essentially Jing Kelly’s argument before the Appellate Division was that having been acquitted by the jury of First Degree Custodial
Interference as a felony, in her trial before Judge Zambelli, the Judge had a duty to send the jury back into deliberation with respect to the lesser, misdemeanor charge, with an Affirmative Defense Instruction. At trial the jury was not permitted to consider the affirmative defense involving a mother’s actions to prevent harm from coming to her infant child.

Analysis


Jing Kelly, a loving mother, and her son Tristram, who will soon be seven years old, have been forcibly kept 3,000 miles apart for more
than four years. This mother has never so much as been accused of abusing or harming her child, at any time, As with so many malicious
and cruel actions taken by Jeanine Pirro against innocent, decent, individuals, the horrific consequences continue to be years in rectifying.
No amount of money, no eventual adjudicated financial compensation will ever make up for the critical years of love and association
stolen from Jing Kelly and her only child, Tristram.

Pirro Homes Up for Sale In Certain Expectation of Civil Suits

By Carol Waldman

In light of recent articles in the daily press and on television regarding the sale of Al and Jeanine Pirro’s homes in Harrison as well as West Palm Beach, Fla., and the attendant speculation that there might be an impending divorce, The Guardian attempted to get information
from Al Pirro, who had managed to elude all other news sources.

Last Tuesday, a call to The Pirro Group (Al Pirro’s office) was answered by Al himself. The Guardian wanted to give Mr. Pirro an open forum to speak his mind and to put the rampant speculation about divorce to rest. We were surprised that he had answered the phone himself but he reassured us that his secretary had, “momentarily stepped away from her desk.” Actually it was fortuitous because we got to speak with Al himself rather than waiting for a return phone call which very likely would never have come.

With this sudden and unexpected entry into his domain, we briefly made small talk and then explained who we were and the purpose of our call. With that explanation the ‘winds of change’ blew over, and Al’s voice became much less playful and more serious. Mr. Pirro asked sternly, “What paper?” Once again, we announced, “ The Guardian.” Knowing that we might be treading on thin ice at this point, we attempted to keep him in a conversational mood stating that we were calling to give him, “an opportunity to speak your mind.”

We quickly asked, “Why are you selling your two houses?” and he, just as quickly, but firmly, answered, “No comment.” Picking up on speculation by Bill O’Shaughnessy, New Rochelle radio station owner, and writer; and long-time friend of the Pirros, we then asked, “Are you moving out of town?” Once again, Al responded, “No comment.”

Pushing the limit we posed one final question, “Are you and Mrs. Pirro planning to divorce?” We knew that our conversation would likely draw to a close at this point. There was heavier breathing on the phone as he emphatically said, “No comment.”

We then thanked Mr. Pirro for his time and wished him good luck.


The Westchester Guardian is aware that the inevitable flood of civil actions against the County of Westchester, specifically naming former District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, has begun.

Attorneys for Jeffrey Deskovic have filed a Notice of Claim in Federal District Court naming her in a 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 Civil Rights action. Readers will recall that Mrs. Pirro stubbornly refused, over a 7-year period, to permit a comparison of Jeffrey Deskovic’s DNA with the DNA Database established in New York State in 1999.

Seven separate appeals made by Mr. Deskovic, an innocent man who, at the age of 16, had been maliciously charged and prosecuted in the rape and murder of Angela Correa, a 15-year-old fellow Peekskill High School student in November 1989, were refused by DA Pirro, despite the fact that Deskovic’s DNA did not match the DNA found in the victim’s body and that his hair follicles did not match those found on her body.

The net result of Jeanine Pirro’s mindless refusal to pursue the truth was that an innocent man, who had already served 10 years for a crime he had not committed, was compelled to serve nearly seven more. It’s reasonable to conclude that the Pirros, both attorneys, aware of this suit and, in anticipation of others, are attempting to sell each of their homes and shelter the proceeds to avoid the placement of liens against those properties as a consequence of any successful civil action against the former D.A.

Too Many Hands In The Cookie Jar.

In Our Opinion...

“Moo...”

We were not surprised by word several days ago that federal investigators had subpoenaed the financial records of the Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla. The investigation is being conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. We are told it is probing into no fewer than three dozen different areas of financial concern, including healthcare fraud, possible kickbacks, rental agreements, and other financial arrangements entered into with doctors, and other healthcare professionals, as well as non-healthcare contractors.

The information subpoenaed goes back only ten years to January 1997, which suggests possible criminal implications, given the ten-year statute of limitations imposed even upon the Internal Revenue Service in cases involving suspected tax fraud. In 1997 the Medical Center was still under the direct control of Westchester County Government, becoming an independent corporate entity the following year as the reins of County government were handed over to the Spano Administration by outgoing Republican County Executive Andy O’Rourke.

In the years following that turnover the Westchester Medical Center has seemingly suffered from one financially catastrophic problem after another; at points forced to lay-off hundreds of professional and non-professional staff in order to meet payroll and other financial obligations, while managing to avoid bankruptcy. To its credit, and the credit of its dedicated professional staff, despite massive staff cutbacks and financial shortfalls, the quality of care remained essentially undiminished. Nevertheless, by 2004, a new Chairman of the Board of Directors and several new board members had been appointed, and Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Marilyn Slaaten, had resigned amidst charges and allegations of mismanagement and incompetence.
Slaaten, previously with the Westchester County Attorney’s Office, and accustomed to earning more than $200,000 with the hospital, had barely cleared out her desk when DA Jeanine Pirro hired her to be a top-level Deputy District Attorney at $115,000. At the time there was considerable grumbling in the ranks by assistant DAs who had been passed over by Pirro in her rush to soften Slaaten’s fall from power. Many openly complained that she possessed no prosecutorial experience, and should not have been put above numerous experienced, seasoned attorneys in the office.

Of course, Mrs. Pirro was not particularly concerned about the reaction to the Slaaten appointment, either from within, or from outside of the office. Since when had Jeanine ever been accountable to anyone, at any time? However, although the appointment may have seemed, to many, to have been without justification, or particular benefit to the District Attorney’s Office, it was not without motive or purpose. Those who had followed theexploits of the “Power Couple,” Al and Jeanine Pirro, closely enough, knew that Slaaten’s seemingly inappropriate appointment was merely ‘payback time.’

For many years, until publicly exposed in The Jeanine Machine, published in 2002, Al Pirro was paid an annual $200,000 retainer, as a lobbyist, by the Westchester Medical Center. Additionally, Mr. Pirro, for reasons never satisfactorily explained, somehow acquired the parking concession at the hospital, which he operated for many years, and ultimately sold for several million dollars.

In light of the above, certain questions may reasonably be put forward. For instance, “What exactly did Mr. Pirro, husband of the District Attorney, do as a lobbyist for the hospital, that justified their paying him a $200,000 retainer per year, for many years?” Surely, it wasn’t his ability to bring new business, open new markets for their services, given the distressing financial condition the institution found itself in despite his employment. Then again, perhaps his lobbying services did come in handy on two occasions, when three adult female patients, including well-known columnist Betty Graham, rapidly died of staff infection, and when a sixyear- old patient was crushed to death by a metal canister in the MRI room, and no criminal negligence was seriously investigated or found by Mrs. Pirro. Perhaps Al’s most important lobbying effort was across the breakfast table.

Hopefully, federal investigators will conduct a thorough and comprehensive probe, and will determine, whether or not, the Westchester County Medical Center, a “World Class Hospital, Not A World Away,” was also a World Class Cash Cow.

“I Am My Father’s Son”

Sam Zherka, publisher of The Westchester Guardian, is presented an award for his tireless support of and contributions to The Integrity Committee of the Westchester Independence Party, by Chairman Nader Sayegh.

Thursday evening, February 8th, the Westchester Integrity Committee of the Independence Party ran a cocktail reception headlined “A New Direction For Responsible Government,” to honor Sam Zherka, Publisher of The Westchester Guardian. More than 300 guests from diverse political affiliations and positions, from all over the lower Hudson Valley paid $125-a-plate to attend.

Mike Edelman, well known attorney, and Republican political analyst spoke at length regarding the need to do away with Cross-endorsement, the device permitted here in New York State, and only four other states, that permits minor parties to endorse the candidates of the Republican or Democratic Party, without running a candidate of their own. Given the closeness of countywide and other local elections, the cross-endorsement of a minor party, particularly the Independence Party, with its substantial enrollment, has often been the critical difference, determining the outcome of elections.

Cathy L. Stewart, New York County Independence Party Chairwoman, spoke about the need to bring about reform and honest elections. She reflected upon the history of the Independence Party in New York stressing the constructive influence of party members such as the Integrity Committee and praising the courage and accomplishments of Nader Sayegh, master of ceremonies and leader of the movement.

State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins made a very frank and heartfelt presentation as keynote speaker, particularly in light of the fact that the Independence Party of Westchester was under the virtual control of her opponent, former State Senator Nick Spano, through Party Chair Giulio Cavallo, in the election of 2004, and in her victorious attempt last year. Stewart-Cousins described the difficulties and obstacles she had to overcome, in a race, many close observers believe she won in 2004, but which was denied her by a systematic and calculated disenfranchisement of hundreds of voters. She encouraged those present to continue their efforts to reform the Independence Party, and to work hard to eliminate election irregularities, and disenfranchisement of voters.

Nader Sayegh, Esq., Chairman, and leader of The Integrity Committee, presented Honoree Sam Zherka with a plaque in appreciation of his tireless efforts on behalf of the Committee, in their attempt to “Reorganize The Westchester Independence Party.”

Accepting the award, Mr. Zherka, born in the United States, of Albanian parents, spoke of his father’s struggle against the Communists, and of the ten years he spent as a political prisoner for his beliefs and his resistance to Communist dictatorship. He explained his own resistance to injustice and election fraud here in Westchester, declaring, “I am my father’s son.”

Publisher Zherka, from the podium, called upon Jeffrey Deskovic, recently released exoneree, formerly of Peekskill, to share his thoughts and experiences with the guests present. Coming forward to a standing ovation, Mr. Deskovic, for nearly 15 minutes, kept the audience, which included a number of law enforcement personnel, spellbound with his description of the activity that imprisoned him for a crime he clearly had nothing to do with at age sixteen, but served the next sixteen years of his life in prison for.

Several other individuals, including Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone, and former candidate for Westchester DA, Tony Castro, came forward and congratulated Sam Zherka for his contributions to the Independence Party.

Our Readers Respond...


A Reader’s Kudos

Dear Editor:


Your newspaper is absolutely wonderfull in this cesspool corrupt county. Please try to distribute copies at the Will Library in Yonkers.
Copies distributed at the Radisson Hotel were a wasted effort.

Tom Rossi, Yonkers


Keep Up The Good Work!!!

Dear Editor:


I was a resident of Westchester County for nearly 40 years and I have many fond memories of the place and the people there.
The only negative feelings I have of Westchester County concern the brazen and outrageous legal corruption that I have observed
first-hand (political/judicial/prosecutorial).

As a resident of Manhattan now, I was delighted to recently happen upon The Westchester Guardian sidewalk vending box on First
Avenue and 57th Street (southeast corner; next to Citibank). My advice to young attorneys (or politicians) who are considering
Westchester County: Don’t, not now, because you will be forced to sell your soul. Wait, be patient. The corruption in
Westchester County will soon end.

My advice to The Westchester Guardian: Keep up the good work!!! You have no idea how many people are applauding the
long-overdue exposure, and necessary cleansing, of Westchester County’s sad corruption.

A happy, and anonymous, reader


Residents’ Persistence Pays Off

Dear Editor:


The half-acre strip of land on Flandreau Avenue that was the subject of much controversy in recent weeks will now become part of the
Greenway Trail. Recently this county-owned vacant parcel was offered to New Rochelle for $1. The Mayor and City Council decided to
lease it instead. The January issue of the New Rochelle Review claims the city will be responsible for its operation and maintenance. Leased
for how long, for what price, and why is it preferable to lease rather than own it? The same paper applauded Councilwoman Marianne
Sussman, “for leading efforts to preserve parkland on Flandreau.”

To correct the record, it was County Legislator James Maisano who worked hard to keep the Flandreau land out of the hands of developers.
Although she says this turn of events is, “welcome news,” where was Councilwoman Sussman while the neighborhood struggled to preserve this open space? How did she assist those of us who fought to achieve this goal through petitions, telephone contacts, letters to newspapers, etc.? Mayor Bramson and the New Rochelle City Council were part of the problem. The persistance of neighborhood residents solved the problem, though Noam Bramson attempted to take credit for its successful outcome. Instead he was guilty of currying favor with County government rather than putting the interests of our city first resulting in unnecessary, on-going expenses for New Rochelle. He was wrong again. Shame on Mayor Bramson!

June Carletti Sambol, New Rochelle


In Our Opinion...

You’ll Attract More Bees With Honey

We believe Eliot Spitzer would do well to reconsider his tactics when dealing with state legislators whose votes, and/or positions, may “terribly disappoint” him. Gestapo tactics, coming into an Assemblyman’s neighborhood and badmouthing him, and threatening to support another candidate to primary him, as he did to George Latimer about ten days ago, is both in bad taste and counterproductive.

Spitzer’s attack on Latimer, of Rye, and on fellow Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of Greenburgh, came in response to the Legislature’s choosing of Tom DiNapoli, Democratic Assemblyman from Nassau County, for State Comptroller, rather than one of three choices put forward by a panel of former comptrollers appointed by the Governor. And, while the Governor may have felt let down, and disappointed, going around bullying the home team was definitely a miscue.

Eliot must remove his prosecutor’s helmet, and replace it with a governor’s bowler, or perhaps a fedora, something softer. A man who enters the Governor’s Mansion with a record seventy percent plurality should not need to intimidate and humiliate legislators, particularly those of his own party. Patience and humility, and the ability to take one’s self a little less seriously, will go a lot further towards achieving even the most urgent goals.

People know, and like George Latimer. He is not someone to be trashed, or run over by a young governor, perhaps a little too full of himself. George, former Chairman of the County Legislature, as well as the Westchester Democratic Committee, has deep roots, and an impressive history of public service.

His friends and constituents will not take too kindly to Eliot’s ridiculing him, bloodying his nose. After all, people are entitled to differences of opinion, and, the governor, and state legislature are part of a system of checks and balances, legislative co-equals.

Port Chester’s Only The Beginning


We are pleased that the Justice Department is moving ahead full throttle with their effort to expose and remedy the long-standing disenfranchisement of Latino voters and candidates in the Village of Port Chester. No serious observer can deny that the “at large” system of electing village trustees is essentially a device to prevent Latinos from electing one of their own from their immediate community.

We are confident that the testimony that began surfacing in Federal District Court last week will ultimately be the basis of removing that discriminatory system, and bringing about the election reform that has been called for in “Living Latino” and other columns in The Westchester Guardian.

However, We fervently hope that having cracked open the lid on Unconstitutional election practices, beginning with the Village of Port Chester, the United States Justice Department, and specifically, United States Attorney Michael Garcia, will now go on to broaden the investigation into the widespread election fraud which has plagued countywide, state, and municipal elections in Westchester for many years.

A good starting point might be the so-called “non-aggression pacts” of the incumbents in the countywide contests of 2001. From there, the contest for 35th District State Senate seat in 2004, and again the countywide elections of 2005, particularly the race for District Attorney, will provide a treasure trove of evidence demanding prosecution.

One never knows just how many foxes may be found in the henhouse!

The Court Report
By Richard Blassberg

Pro Se Defendant Charged With Harassment and Stalking Wins Acquittal
Westchester County Court, White Plains
Judge John P. Colangelo Presiding

Last Tuesday, February 13th, Peter Petrov, a naturalized American citizen from Bulgaria was acquitted by a jury of five men and a woman, having chosen to conduct his own defense in a trial that extended over four days before Judge John P. Colangelo in Westchester County Court. Mr. Petrov who had previously been divorced from his wife of more than six years, Maria Besheva Petrov, by Judge Robert Neary, a year earlier, had originally been hauled into White Plains City Court on charges of violation of a Temporary Order of Protection, allegedly having harassed and stalked his former wife at the Galleria, and the City Center Mall in late November, and early December 2005.

Instructed to attend classes for domestically violent individuals, without having been convicted of any of his former wife’s allegations,
Mr. Petrov refused, on general Constitutional grounds. Apprehended and brought into County Court for arraignment, he stood his grounds,
demanding a trial to determine his guilt or innocence.

The District Attorney’s Office over a period of a year repeatedly lessened the charges, ultimately offering Petrov an ACD. However, he
refused to compromise, insisting on his innocence and demanding his day in court. A man of modest income and means, Petrov was compelled to dismiss his attorney. Opting to conduct his own defense, but mindful that a conviction could bring up to a year in jail, he accepted legal advice, but not representation, from Attorney Richard Ferrante, assigned by the Court.

Tuesday brought summations, the Prosecution and Defense having rested. Prior to the commencement of their closing statements, Judge Colangelo, really for the benefit of Mr. Petrov, cautioned both sides to confine their remarks to those subjects that had been allowed into evidence. Mr. Petrov opened with, “I think the Prosecution has not met their burden of proof.” Referring to his former wife, the complainant, he declared, “Ms. Basheva thought that the Order of Protection barred me from White Plains. She stated that she felt safer on a deserted street than in a mall full of people.”

Holding the jury’s attention, despite some problems with his pronounciation, Petrov went on, “She went to the police ten days after she saw me, and three days after she saw me a second time.” Appealing to the jurors’ common sense he declared, “You spent four days trying to determine the truth. Do you believe an Order of Protection barred me from the City of White Plains? I believe that it is time the DA investigates the perjury.”

ADA Bloom took a two-pronged approach. She told the jurors that a “lawful Order of Protection had been issued,” and yet Mr. Petrov had appeared approximately ten days apart both at the Galleria and the City Center Mall when his former wife was present. Claiming, “he beat her so bad,” she explained that Mr. Petrov had told her, “I will sponsor your mother to come to the United States, if you will have another child.”

Bloom, indicating that Mrs. Petrov did not want another child, declared, “She was defying him.” She then showed the jury a photo of the Defendant’s former wife, claiming that a dark spot on her face was blood from an injury.

Bloom repeatedly told the jurors the Defendant had a car and access to a hundred shopping areas where he could have purchased the television and cable he claimed he had been shopping for. Without offering any evidence that Petrov had any prior knowledge that his former wife would be present either in the Galleria or the City Center Mall on any particular day at a particular time, she attempted to persuade them that he was actually in those malls at a time when she was for the express purpose of stalking and harassing her.

The jury was not buying the DA’s logic. Within three hours of the Judge’s charge they returned a verdict of not guilty on each of five counts.


• • •

Big Change Coming At The Top


Confidential sources tell The Guardian that Administrative Judge Francis Nicolai will be retiring in April, and that Judge Anthony Scarpino, formerly of the Surrogate Court, will be assuming his position.