Andy Thibault's Blog, page 11

UPDATED w/ Daly Interview @CTLawTribune & @FOX61News VIDEO - @USJCT: Welcomes Two Former U.S. Attorneys To Discuss Special Counsel Probe

CtLawTrib:
Treat for Legal Buffs: Insights Into Russia Investigation With Daly, O'Connor





Valance bio


Heavyweight Government and Politics Talks Coming to Conn. Universities






via @greenwichtime @thedishtoo The Dish: Legal Talk - Daly, O'Connor Discuss #RussiaProbe











USJCT alum Margaret E. Kelley Appointed State's Attorney for Judicial District of Ansonia / Milford; will introduce Daly, O'Connor & Valance

Kelley sworn in, 10-2-18



Posting @ USJCT


WEST HARTFORD, CONN. (Sept. 10, 2018) – Former Connecticut U.S. Attorneys Deirdre Daly and Kevin O'Connor will discuss the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related matters during a forum on Oct. 15 in the Crystal Room of Mercy Hall at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ). Director of the Program in Criminal and Restorative Justice at USJ, Nikos Valance, will moderate the discussion. The public is invited to attend this free event beginning at 6:30 p.m.

SPECIAL COUNSEL’S OFFICE

For all interested in attending the Oct. 15 forum registration is required at http://giving.usj.edu/StudentSpeakerS....
REGISTRATION
Daly and O'Connor will share perspectives on the Russia investigation covering topics including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, the recusal of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's appointment of former FBI Director and U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. They will also take questions from the audience.

“We welcome the Greater Hartford community to join us as we learn more from two legal experts about the current federal investigation regarding the 2016 presidential election,” remarked University of Saint Joseph President Rhona Free, Ph.D.

Daly, who works at Stamford law firm Finn Dixon & Herling, is a member of the firm’s Government & Internal Investigations and Litigation practice groups. She was the state’s 51st U.S. Attorney and the first woman to be presidentially appointed to lead the office, which was established in 1789. During her term as U.S. Attorney from 2013-17, she was appointed by the Attorney General of the United States to serve as a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. Earlier in her career, she served for 12 years as a prosecutor and supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

O'Connor is Chief Legal Officer for Point72, a Stamford-based hedge fund. He joined Point72 in June 2015 from United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where he served as Vice President of Global Ethics & Compliance. Prior to joining UTC, O’Connor was a partner and chair of the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. Previously, he served as United States Attorney for Connecticut from 2002-08 and as Associate Attorney General of the United States from 2008-09. During his tenure with the Department of Justice, O’Connor also served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, and chair of the Department’s Intellectual Property Task Force.

###

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) offers a wide range of coeducational undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs that combine a professional and liberal arts education with opportunities for mentored research, community service, clinical field work, and internships. Programs are taught on the University’s two campuses in West Hartford and Hartford, Connecticut; at off-campus locations throughout the state; and online. Founded in 1932 by the Sisters of Mercy, the University of Saint Joseph offers degrees with value and values. Learn more at www.usj.edu.

USJ OFFICE OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS1678 Asylum Avenue | West Hartford, Connecticut 06117-2791 | Tel: 860.231.5602 www.usj.edu

PRIOR SPEAKERS IN SERIES:


JOHN DURHAM


DOUG GLANVILLE


ERIN MORIARTY


KATE RUSHIN






USJCT Website

Twitter USJCT

Facebook USJCT

Instagram USJCT
Cool Justice Blog

UPDATED w/ @FOX61News VIDEO - via @USJCT: University of Saint Joseph Welcomes Two Former U.S. Attorneys To Discuss Special Counsel Probe

Valance bio


Heavyweight Government and Politics Talks Coming to Conn. Universities






via @greenwichtime @thedishtoo The Dish: Legal Talk - Daly, O'Connor Discuss #RussiaProbe











USJCT alum Margaret E. Kelley Appointed State's Attorney for Judicial District of Ansonia / Milford; will introduce Daly, O'Connor & Valance

Kelley sworn in, 10-2-18



Posting @ USJCT


WEST HARTFORD, CONN. (Sept. 10, 2018) – Former Connecticut U.S. Attorneys Deirdre Daly and Kevin O'Connor will discuss the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related matters during a forum on Oct. 15 in the Crystal Room of Mercy Hall at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ). Director of the Program in Criminal and Restorative Justice at USJ, Nikos Valance, will moderate the discussion. The public is invited to attend this free event beginning at 6:30 p.m.

SPECIAL COUNSEL’S OFFICE

For all interested in attending the Oct. 15 forum registration is required at http://giving.usj.edu/StudentSpeakerS....
REGISTRATION
Daly and O'Connor will share perspectives on the Russia investigation covering topics including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, the recusal of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's appointment of former FBI Director and U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. They will also take questions from the audience.

“We welcome the Greater Hartford community to join us as we learn more from two legal experts about the current federal investigation regarding the 2016 presidential election,” remarked University of Saint Joseph President Rhona Free, Ph.D.

Daly, who works at Stamford law firm Finn Dixon & Herling, is a member of the firm’s Government & Internal Investigations and Litigation practice groups. She was the state’s 51st U.S. Attorney and the first woman to be presidentially appointed to lead the office, which was established in 1789. During her term as U.S. Attorney from 2013-17, she was appointed by the Attorney General of the United States to serve as a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. Earlier in her career, she served for 12 years as a prosecutor and supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

O'Connor is Chief Legal Officer for Point72, a Stamford-based hedge fund. He joined Point72 in June 2015 from United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where he served as Vice President of Global Ethics & Compliance. Prior to joining UTC, O’Connor was a partner and chair of the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. Previously, he served as United States Attorney for Connecticut from 2002-08 and as Associate Attorney General of the United States from 2008-09. During his tenure with the Department of Justice, O’Connor also served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, and chair of the Department’s Intellectual Property Task Force.

###

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) offers a wide range of coeducational undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs that combine a professional and liberal arts education with opportunities for mentored research, community service, clinical field work, and internships. Programs are taught on the University’s two campuses in West Hartford and Hartford, Connecticut; at off-campus locations throughout the state; and online. Founded in 1932 by the Sisters of Mercy, the University of Saint Joseph offers degrees with value and values. Learn more at www.usj.edu.

USJ OFFICE OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS1678 Asylum Avenue | West Hartford, Connecticut 06117-2791 | Tel: 860.231.5602 www.usj.edu

PRIOR SPEAKERS IN SERIES:


JOHN DURHAM


DOUG GLANVILLE


ERIN MORIARTY


KATE RUSHIN






USJCT Website

Twitter USJCT

Facebook USJCT

Instagram USJCT
Cool Justice Blog

UPDATED / via @USJCT: University of Saint Joseph Welcomes Two Former U.S. Attorneys To Discuss Special Counsel Probe

Heavyweight Government and Politics Talks Coming to Conn. Universities






via @greenwichtime @thedishtoo The Dish: Legal Talk - Daly, O'Connor Discuss #RussiaProbe











USJCT alum Margaret E. Kelley Appointed State's Attorney for Judicial District of Ansonia / Milford; will introduce Daly, O'Connor & Valance

Kelley sworn in, 10-2-18



Posting @ USJCT


WEST HARTFORD, CONN. (Sept. 10, 2018) – Former Connecticut U.S. Attorneys Deirdre Daly and Kevin O'Connor will discuss the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related matters during a forum on Oct. 15 in the Crystal Room of Mercy Hall at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ). Director of the Program in Criminal and Restorative Justice at USJ, Nikos Valance, will moderate the discussion. The public is invited to attend this free event beginning at 6:30 p.m.

SPECIAL COUNSEL’S OFFICE

For all interested in attending the Oct. 15 forum registration is required at http://giving.usj.edu/StudentSpeakerS....
REGISTRATION
Daly and O'Connor will share perspectives on the Russia investigation covering topics including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, the recusal of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's appointment of former FBI Director and U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. They will also take questions from the audience.

“We welcome the Greater Hartford community to join us as we learn more from two legal experts about the current federal investigation regarding the 2016 presidential election,” remarked University of Saint Joseph President Rhona Free, Ph.D.

Daly, who works at Stamford law firm Finn Dixon & Herling, is a member of the firm’s Government & Internal Investigations and Litigation practice groups. She was the state’s 51st U.S. Attorney and the first woman to be presidentially appointed to lead the office, which was established in 1789. During her term as U.S. Attorney from 2013-17, she was appointed by the Attorney General of the United States to serve as a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. Earlier in her career, she served for 12 years as a prosecutor and supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

O'Connor is Chief Legal Officer for Point72, a Stamford-based hedge fund. He joined Point72 in June 2015 from United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where he served as Vice President of Global Ethics & Compliance. Prior to joining UTC, O’Connor was a partner and chair of the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. Previously, he served as United States Attorney for Connecticut from 2002-08 and as Associate Attorney General of the United States from 2008-09. During his tenure with the Department of Justice, O’Connor also served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, and chair of the Department’s Intellectual Property Task Force.

###

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) offers a wide range of coeducational undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs that combine a professional and liberal arts education with opportunities for mentored research, community service, clinical field work, and internships. Programs are taught on the University’s two campuses in West Hartford and Hartford, Connecticut; at off-campus locations throughout the state; and online. Founded in 1932 by the Sisters of Mercy, the University of Saint Joseph offers degrees with value and values. Learn more at www.usj.edu.

USJ OFFICE OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS1678 Asylum Avenue | West Hartford, Connecticut 06117-2791 | Tel: 860.231.5602 www.usj.edu

PRIOR SPEAKERS IN SERIES:


JOHN DURHAM


DOUG GLANVILLE


ERIN MORIARTY


KATE RUSHIN






USJCT Website

Twitter USJCT

Facebook USJCT

Instagram USJCT
Cool Justice Blog

via @USJCT: University of Saint Joseph Welcomes Two Former U.S. Attorneys To Discuss Special Counsel Probe

Posting @ USJCT


WEST HARTFORD, CONN. (Sept. 10, 2018) – Former Connecticut U.S. Attorneys Deirdre Daly and Kevin O'Connor will discuss the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related matters during a forum on Oct. 15 in the Crystal Room of Mercy Hall at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ). Director of the Program in Criminal and Restorative Justice at USJ, Nikos Valance, will moderate the discussion. The public is invited to attend this free event beginning at 6:30 p.m.

SPECIAL COUNSEL’S OFFICE

For all interested in attending the Oct. 15 forum registration is required at http://giving.usj.edu/StudentSpeakerS....
REGISTRATION
Daly and O'Connor will share perspectives on the Russia investigation covering topics including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, the recusal of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's appointment of former FBI Director and U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. They will also take questions from the audience.

“We welcome the Greater Hartford community to join us as we learn more from two legal experts about the current federal investigation regarding the 2016 presidential election,” remarked University of Saint Joseph President Rhona Free, Ph.D.

Daly, who works at Stamford law firm Finn Dixon & Herling, is a member of the firm’s Government & Internal Investigations and Litigation practice groups. She was the state’s 51st U.S. Attorney and the first woman to be presidentially appointed to lead the office, which was established in 1789. During her term as U.S. Attorney from 2013-17, she was appointed by the Attorney General of the United States to serve as a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. Earlier in her career, she served for 12 years as a prosecutor and supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

O'Connor is Chief Legal Officer for Point72, a Stamford-based hedge fund. He joined Point72 in June 2015 from United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where he served as Vice President of Global Ethics & Compliance. Prior to joining UTC, O’Connor was a partner and chair of the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. Previously, he served as United States Attorney for Connecticut from 2002-08 and as Associate Attorney General of the United States from 2008-09. During his tenure with the Department of Justice, O’Connor also served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, and chair of the Department’s Intellectual Property Task Force.

###

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) offers a wide range of coeducational undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs that combine a professional and liberal arts education with opportunities for mentored research, community service, clinical field work, and internships. Programs are taught on the University’s two campuses in West Hartford and Hartford, Connecticut; at off-campus locations throughout the state; and online. Founded in 1932 by the Sisters of Mercy, the University of Saint Joseph offers degrees with value and values. Learn more at www.usj.edu.

USJ OFFICE OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS1678 Asylum Avenue | West Hartford, Connecticut 06117-2791 | Tel: 860.231.5602 www.usj.edu

PRIOR SPEAKERS IN SERIES:


JOHN DURHAM


DOUG GLANVILLE


ERIN MORIARTY


KATE RUSHIN






USJCT Website

Twitter USJCT

Facebook USJCT

Instagram USJCT
Cool Justice Blog

#GoodMorningWestchester! @WVOXRADIO To Host Original Lawyer for #Watergate Burglars – a Former #GeneralFoods Employee – With Widow of Former #GF Exec Who Disappeared Mysteriously in 1974 @lohud @News12WC @YorktownNews @DVWestchester_N @YorktownPatch

Attorney Douglas Caddy of Houston and retired public school teacher Grace Caporino of Yorktown Heights will join Good Morning Westchester! host Bob Marrone Tuesday, Sept. 11, during the 8:10 am segment on WVOX-AM-1460.





Good Morning Westchester! is the county’s only morning talk radio show. Marrone also serves as news director for WVOX.




Good Morning Westchester!








Caddy, the attorney for Watergate burglars including E. Howard Hunt, is the author of a new memoir – Being There: Eyewitness to History, published by TrineDay – which covers a wide-ranging career including his time at General Foods and the Caporino case.


Grace Caporino, a Fellow of the United States Holocaust Museum who also taught at Purchase College, SUNY, is the widow of Gabe Caporino. Gabe Caporino was a U.S. Navy veteran and graduate of St. Peters College, Jersey City, NJ, who worked at General Foods for 17 years.



Gabe Caporino was last seen in New Orleans at a business conference in March 1974. The New York Surrogate Court declared him dead in 1979.


Forty four years ago – with several New Orleans police officers crowding her – Grace Caporino briefly touched and read a number of pages in a three-inch-high stack of reports about her missing husband. After a few minutes, they forced her to leave. The file has not been seen since, and New Orleans PD says does not exist – except for several pages. Grace Caporino continues to pursue the case to this day, confronting corporate executives and law enforcement officials.

The Caporino case was the subject of a CBS documentary with the late reporter Chris Borgen, NYPD narcotics detective, retired. The program aired a number of times on Eye On New York beginning in May 1974.

BACKGROUND

New Memoir Connects the Dots on Gabe Caporino Missing Person / Homicide Case

Cool Justice Blog

Flashback: Who's That Lady?

Direct From Portlandia: Lady of Shalott English Rose
- photo by Mrs. Columbo

Story Reprinted from Law and Justice in Everyday Life, Chapter 8, Art and Politics

Theme song for this article

Who’s That Lady?
Dec. 17, 2000 Northeast Magazine

Tucked away in a dark corner of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum is a treasure that has attracted international scholars engaged in aesthetic and political debate.

The subject is a beautiful woman. She is a confined woman for whom the rule, “Look, Don’t Touch,” would be liberating. For she is a Victorian lady, “The Lady of Shalott,” and just looking is a bit too much. Never mind living in the outside world. Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote the lady’s death warrant with his poem, “The Lady of Shalott.” William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) painted the climax of the lady's demise, and the Wadsworth first exhibited the painting in 1962.

The Lady of Shalott has a full-time job, locked in a tower, weaving a tapestry of life at Camelot: “ ... She weaveth steadily / and little other care have she.”

But, “A curse is on her, if she stay / Her weaving, either night or day, / To look down to Camelot.”

Her single joy -- as well as her curse -- is to view the outside world only through a mirror.

Tennyson’s poem was written at a time when feminism and a burgeoning suffrage movement aroused anxiety. A predominant Victorian theme described women as “Angels of the House.”

“This painting is meant to tell women who look at it, `Do this -- go beyond your proper place -- and you'll be doomed,’ ” said Dr. Shuli Barzilai, one of many scholars from around the world who came to Hartford to view Hunt’s “The Lady of Shalott.”

Ever a defender of the dominant Victorian social class, Tennyson might have been sympathetic with the factory owners who benefited from the ideology of the poem and the many paintings inspired by it.

The opulence of Hunt’s work struck Barzilai. “Although the image itself is static,” she said, “all the details combine to transmit a dynamic and highly dramatic narrative about the lady’s sudden fall from grace. There’s a lot going on there: the disturbed doves rushing about because of the curse that’s fallen upon the lady, the extinguished lamp, the fallen irises -- symbols of her sin of disobedience. There’s Sir Lancelot in the background riding on in his heedless way, unaware of the destruction he has brought upon the lady.”

For other scholars, the painting offers a perspective on the conflict between art or contemplation and the real world.

Hunt labored over his obsession for many years, completing it in 1905. English schoolchildren also demonstrated their devotion to Tennyson’s "The Lady of Shalott" by memorizing it and many other of his poems.

L.M. Montgomery, author of “Anne of Green Gables,” was so moved by the painting and poem that she had her main character act out “The Lady of Shalott” and nearly drown. Other paintings of the lady, most notably John Waterhouse's 1888 version, show her shortly before death, with darkened eyes, floating on a boat as her blood is “frozen slowly.”

Barzilai, professor of English at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, calls Hunt’s “The Lady of Shalott” at the Wadsworth “the most magnificent version” and a “squandered asset.”

“You have to hunt for Hunt,” she said. “There is no natural light; I wonder if there could be a more appropriate appreciation of its historical value.”

Barzilai said the brilliant colors, texture and design are ill served by the museum’s staging of the painting. “The mise en scene is appalling -- and also surprising given the historical and cultural importance of this work of art,” she said.

“The hunter green walls are not, to put it mildly, the best of background for this painting, or for most others for that matter,” Barzilai said. “The intensely green surroundings leach color from Hunt’s canvas. In addition, the overhead glare from the lamps obscures the painting from different angles. A special effort is required to see it in its entirety.”

Indeed, it is easy to walk by the Wadsworth’s “The Lady of Shalott,” hung as it is in the darkened, deep-green paneled room off the beaten track on the second floor. Barzilai said she observed a number of visitors to the gallery walking right by.

Upon turning back, the viewer can see the scene depicted in the climax of the poem. The lady hears Sir Lancelot riding by. She leaves her loom, daring to take a glimpse at Camelot.

A wild storm shatters her mirror. The threads from her tapestry fly apart and wind around her body. The wind whips her hair about. The lady has been disobedient; she is doomed.

The lady's pre-cursors who fell from grace -- Eve and Pandora -- are also depicted among the many symbolic images surrounding her.

Susan Hood, spokeswoman for the museum, called Hunt’s “The Lady of Shalott” “just one of many, many thousands” of master works at the Wadsworth.

“The museum’s collections are rich and famous,” Hood said. “It is in a gallery with art appropriate to the era.”

Acknowledging that paths through the museum are confusing, Hood noted that the Wadsworth is made up of five interconnected buildings. Like many museums, the Wadsworth eliminated or cut back much of its natural lighting during the energy crisis of the 1970s. Some natural lighting in other galleries at the Wadsworth has been restored.

The Wadsworth's version of “The Lady of Shalott” goes on loan in January and will be back on view in May-June 2001.

Upon its return, Barzilai suggested the Atheneum develop a topical series of gallery talks or lectures, including the influence of the 19th century Women’s Liberation Movement in Great Britain on the way male artists represented women during the period. She said Hunt’s painting could serve as an index of cultural anxiety.






more COOL JUSTICE

Cool Justice Blog

[Re-Up] COOL JUSTICE: How Hartford Shafts Brutality Victims, Cops and Citizens at Large

Cool Justice Editor's Note: This column originally appeared in the Hartford-based Inquiring News, folowed by New Haven's Inner City News. Reprint OK courtesy of Inquiring News and The Cool Justice Report. Photo of coach Tylon Outlaw by Bob Thiesfield.

COOL JUSTICE:
How Hartford Shafts Brutality Victims, Cops and Citizens at Large

By ANDY THIBAULT

The former college football star will never walk like a normal person and he will never run or jump again. Since just before Christmas 14 years ago, severe pain and all its related maladies have been his ever-present companions.

Hartford Police pulverized his knee and bashed him in the head repeatedly with a baton. At age 43 now, he's still too young for a necessary knee replacement. In a series of preliminary operations to try to help him walk, a plate and screws have been inserted and removed as his cartilage disappeared, leaving what is left of his knee bone on bone. His surgeon evaluated the pain as "a 10" on "a scale of one to 10."

His crime? Traveling from Wethersfield to patronize a Hartford restaurant.

Tylon Outlaw played college football at Missouri Valley College where he was the top tackler in his conference and an honorable mention All American National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics [NAIA] cornerback. Following that, he also played several years professionally in the Arena Football League. He works as a tutor at Bloomfield High School in addition to coaching the football team to a state championship in 2015.

Now, the city of Hartford is shafting both this beat down victim and the cop stuck with a $454,197 jury verdict for civil rights violations.

This is not an isolated case. A federal magistrate judge has called the city's practice of trying to cut loose cops found liable for civil rights violations "bewildering," questioning "what capable officer, in his or her right mind, would want to work for such a city?" The police union's Twitter account has even cited the judge's remarks.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel wrote the following opinion in a Nov. 13, 2017 ruling in a related case in which the city stiffed both the brutality victims and the cops. Garfinkel's entire opinion should be circulated widely. Of note, Garfinkel previously served as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County and, as a long-time practitioner of martial arts, earned a black belt in Tang Soo Do.

“The City’s position, in addition to being unsupported by precedent, is bewildering. How can Hartford maintain a qualified police force when it is willing to expose its officers to personal liability for compensatory damages for civil rights judgments? What capable officer, in his or her right mind, would want to work for such a city? And what message does this send to the community, the residents of Hartford, when their governing officials promote a position that, in all likelihood, will leave them without full compensation for injuries in the event that they are the victims of a civil rights violation?”

The coach still has a lien on his house for hospital bills cited in his federal jury award, which was affirmed in March of this year by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Not only that, the city has filed an action to bill him about $10,000 for court costs.

His case sheds light not only on the city of Hartford's unscrupulous legal contortions, but also on its sordid history of willful failure to investigate brutality thoroughly and properly and to hold those responsible accountable. The legal term for this failure is deliberate indifference. In Hartford's practice and policy, we should call it what it is: energetic indifference to the rule of law.

Occasionally a federal judge will have the integrity and sense of duty to call out these practices, as U.S. District Judge Janet Arterton did in 2003, only a year before the unprovoked attack on the coach:

" ... Hartford had a policy or pervasive pattern of deliberate indifference to the possibility that its officers were prone to use excessive force, as demonstrated principally by Hartford's failure to reasonably investigate complaints and the absence of punitive consequences for any accused officer, that such policy or pattern may have emboldened or implanted a sense of impunity in its officers, resulting in the challenged first offense by this defendant, and that the offense would not have occurred had proper investigation and police discipline procedures been in place."

A decade earlier, I was part of a team that documented patterns of unchecked police brutality for a two-part series published by The Hartford Courant. The series, entitled

"Violent officers take toll on public trust, pocketbook" and "Flawed system shields violent officers from detection; Procedures, politics hamper Review board's effectiveness," revealed that no one responsible for keeping police brutality in check in Hartford -- not even the chief of police -- knew how many officers were accused of brutality or who they are.

It's likely they still don't know. It seems abundantly clear to any reasonable person that they don't want to know.

A month before the Bloomfield coach was so severely beaten, the same officer, Michael Allen, actually broke his police baton over the head of another civilian. In subsequent depositions, a former Los Angeles county sheriff and Patrick Hartnett, Hartford police chief from 2004-06, testified they had never heard of an officer striking anyone hard enough to break his baton. Significantly, Hartnett and the Hartford Police Department concluded the shattering blow to the head of the other civilian was "inadvertent" and "necessary / reasonable" force.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, briefed on the various judicial admonitions against the city and the ongoing indemnification brouhaha in the Outlaw civil rights award, offered the following statement late Tuesday: “Our police officers do extraordinarily important work, often in extraordinarily difficult and dangerous situations, and they deserve to know that our city stands behind them. In cases of alleged police misconduct, we defend our officers vigorously, pay for the officers’ legal defense, and if there’s a judgment against an officer, our policy is to indemnify the officer against any judgment in all but the most egregious circumstances. We have an obligation to review each case individually, and we have to consider whether it would be appropriate for taxpayers to bear the cost in a situation that truly involved egregious, willful, and wanton misconduct. As there are still post-trial motions pending in the Outlaw case, I can't comment on that case specifically.”

Put simply, there is no valid or competent oversight of the Hartford Police Department. Instead, there is negligence and malfeasance on a grand scale.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that an annual report from the so-called Civilian Police review Board -- mandated by Hartford city ordinance since 1992 -- apparently has been issued only once, in 1994.

"The record suggests that annual reports were not prepared for the other years," the U.S. Second Circuit found.

The federal appeals court noted: According to the 1994 Report, the Review Board's early meetings were met with “mass protest by the police union”; officers “jeered and insulted both the Board and complainants” and threatened some with “bodily harm.” (1994 Report 2, 12-13.) The Board also reported difficulties in carrying out its duties, since “[r]epeated requests to the Chief of Police regarding ordinance mandated data ha[d] been met with marked, delayed responses ... or no response at all”; and the data that were received were “woefully incomplete.” (Id. at 4.) The 1994 Report stated that the IAD seemed unable “to complete investigations in a timely manner,” as a result of which a “public perception that officers w[ould] not be appropriately disciplined [wa]s reinforced.” (Id. at 7-8.) And the IAD investigation files often gave the impression “that the complainant rather than the officer ... [wa]s being investigated by IAD.” (Id. at 7.) In its first 17 months, the Board reviewed 26 cases, 18 of which involved complaints of excessive force. Of the 18 excessive-force complaints, the Board sustained 14; IAD had sustained only two.

The Hartford Courant series also showed that brutality happens in the afternoon in the shadows of the governor's office or in the middle of the night in a housing project. It happens when an officer has a victim alone, and it happens in front of crowds of witnesses. The victims are men and women, black and white, poor and prosperous, criminals and law-abiding citizens. People have been beaten for making smart remarks, for asking why they are being arrested, for asking an officer why he is beating someone else -- for doing anything that seems to question an officer's authority.

"I think we have a problem," said the chief at that time, Ronald Loranger, a 27-year veteran of the force. "I think we've had a problem for a long time. I think there are bad apples on this job that when given the chance will use excessive force. ... I think you're talking less than 5 percent of the force."

More than 40 current and retired officers interviewed agreed that the department has a brutality problem. Some force is necessary to maintain control of potentially dangerous situations, they said, but between 10 percent and 25 percent of the officers go beyond that.

This was the maelstrom that coach Tylon Outlaw walked into on Dec. 17, 2004.

The coach had gone to a Hartford restaurant to meet with friends regarding a proposed business venture. Upon leaving, he spoke with several other friends he recognized in a taxi cab.

An undercover Hartford detective driving an unmarked car yelled at the coach, "Hey motherfucker."

Perceiving this to be an informal urban pleasantry, he responded in kind.

The plain clothes detective, Troy Gordon, did not identify himself as a police officer. He did, however, park and ultimately charge at the coach, kicking him in the stomach. As the coach was able to block a second kick with his hands, he was struck in the head from behind with a police baton by another officer.

He fell to the ground, yelling for help. On his back he curled into a fetal position as he was repeatedly struck in the head, arms and legs with a baton and kicked in the back and stomach. As he tried to cover his face, officer Michael Allen hit him in the right knee with the baton, breaking his kneecap.

Among the eyewitnesses, a ballroom dance instructor described the scene this way: "A crowd of people 10 converged on what looked to be one person ... seemed to be multiple people, five or six, again, beating somebody up pretty badly, kicking, throwing punches … it was pretty brutal.”

Upon entering a nearby restaurant, the witness exclaimed: “You should see what’s going on outside, the police are really wailing into somebody ... “Holy shit guys you should have seen them. I mean, there’s Hartford, the Hartford cops are beating the shit out of some guy outside… yeah, man, it’s freaking crazy.”

Clearly, there were more than two officers involved in the beating of the coach, either as participants or witnesses. It is not unusual for the city of Hartford to hide the identities of cops in these matters. Indeed, in an unrelated case filed in 2011, the late U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz wrote: “Discovery is not supposed to be a shell game, where the hidden ball is moved round and round and only revealed after so many false guesses are made and so much money is squandered ... Defense counsel is not entitled to transform discovery of the names of police officers ... into a game of hide-and-seek."

From a reading of court records, it appears possible police had mistaken the coach for another person involved in a different incident. Indeed, once the coach was taken to the Hartford Hospital he was booked under a false name. His family and friends could not find him or talk to him for some time.

"It was a big hush-hush cover-up thing in the hospital," his surgeon testified in a deposition.

During a brief lull in the beat down, Allen placed the coach face down on the pavement, cuffed his hands and dragged him for 60-odd feet and threw him to the pavement between parked cars, where the coach landed on his face. Blood was dripping from his head and face.

After surgery at the hospital, police shackled his legs to his bed.

The coach was falsely charged with breach of peace, being intoxicated in a roadway, threatening a police officer and assault on a police officer. This tactic is standard operating procedure after a beat down.

To get rid of the case, he took a plea for the infraction of "creating a public disturbance." This disposition shows prosecutors recognized the case for what it is -- the beat-down of an innocent man.

The federal court found that conflicting testimony by Gordon and Allen was "not credible."

The court found that "the testimony by Detective Gordon that the Plaintiff struck him, or, as Officer Allen testified, that Plaintiff grabbed the detective by his coat, is not credible and not true. Plaintiff is more credible when he testified that he was accosted by an unknown man on a dark street whom he feared was holding a gun. Without warning, he was kicked in the midsection by Detective Gordon and then struck from behind by Officer Allen. This testimony is corroborated by the testimony of the witnesses in the cab, as well as the undisputed testimony that it was Detective Gordon who got out of his car and approached Plaintiff without identifying himself as a police officer."

The court found further that "Officer Allen's testimony that Plaintiff fought with Detective Gordon and then continued to try to kick Officer Allen after being knocked to the ground by a blow to the head is not credible. Officer Allen struck Plaintiff at least four times with a police baton -- drawing blood with the blows to the head and later breaking Plaintiff's knee. Plaintiff's version that he was struck from behind by Officer Allen, fell to the ground, attempted to protect his head where he had already been hit, and was then struck on the knee is more credible than Officer Allen's version of events."

In a deposition on Jan. 4, 2016, Dr. Christopher Lena, an orthopedic surgeon, testified about the coach's fractured kneecap [patella] and lacerations over his face. Some of the lacerations required stapling.

"The patella is ... a small bone that sits in the front of the knee," the surgeon said. "It is required for extension of your leg. It's what helps you to ascend, descend stairs. It helps you getting up from a seated position. It bears a lot of weight, and the cartilage over it is somewhat sensitive ... he developed significant post-traumatic arthritic changes over the years secondary to the fracture that he sustained and the decrease in blood supply to the cartilage, which has led to his bone-on-bone contact ... We have been putting him off [for knee replacement] as long as we can ... [because of his relatively young age] ... he has consistently over the years been coming back to us discussing and having continued problems."

The city of Hartford's ruse of flip-flopping on the question of covering or indemnifying police officers for civil rights violations was characterized by The Hartford Courant in another case -- in which a Hartford cop shot and killed a dog in front of a 10-year-old girl in 2006 -- as a negotiating tactic. In 2016, the city finally paid a total of about $885,000 in damages after flip-flopping on the indemnification issue in the dog case.

City of Hartford Flip Flopped in 2016 on Indemnification of Brutal Cops

The third case [Edwards v. Cornell] involves a $410,000 jury award from an excessive force incident in 2012. This case is still being litigated on issues including indemnification.

Hartford has taken the position that because an officer acts “intentionally,” where a civil rights violation is found by a jury, they are not required to indemnify. However, state law requires the city to indemnify the officer for a civil rights violation. The city only gets off the hook legally if the officer’s conduct is found to be willful or wanton / malicious.

Among Hartford’s delaying tactics in paying: equating an “intentional act” with a “malicious act.” Sometimes, legally, these are one and the same, but not necessarily.

"Under two state statutes and court precedent, a municipality remains liable to indemnify any public employee found liable for civil rights violations unless they notify the parties and the courts [ahead of time for actual malicious conduct] that they won't pay." said Hartford attorney Jon Schoenhorn, who prevailed in the dog killing case. "Any claim to the contrary is specious."

Indeed, just as the officers involved in the dog case were compelled to sue the city to enforce compliance with state indemnification laws, a lawyer for officer Allen in the beat down case filed a similar action in May of this year. That lawyer, Patrick Tomasiewicz, did not respond to repeated calls and messages.

In his May filing, Tomasiewicz wrote: "The City's obligation to indemnify is a mandatory rather than a discretionary duty; the plaintiff has a clear legal right to have the obligation performed; and, there is no other adequate remedy at law ... The City's refusal to indemnify him is contrary to law."

"Most cities want to encourage out-of-town people to patronize local business," said one of the coach's lawyers, Raymond Rigat. "Here, the message seems to be: 'Welcome to Hartford, catch an old fashioned police beat-down, go to the hospital -- it's your problem not ours.' This is another reason it is so puzzling to me why Hartford refuses to make this right."






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Cool Justice Blog

'What capable officer, in his or her right mind, would want to work for such a city?' -- U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel FULL REPORT Via Inquiring News

COACH TYLON OUTLAW
Renowned Coach of Bloomfield High School State Championship Football Team [2015]
-- Photo by Bob Thiesfield for Inquiring News



The city of Hartford has some major explaining to do.

Former college football star Tylon Outlaw, victim of a vicious police beat down 14 years ago, had his $454,197 civil rights award affirmed in March of this year by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The city still has not paid.

Why not?

Complete Column Via Inquiring News

Inquiring News Twitter
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BACKGROUND
City of Hartford Flip Flopped Last Year on Indemnification of Brutal Cops
Cool Justice Blog

'What capable officer, in his or her right mind, would want to work for such a city?' -- U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel ... Full Report To Follow Via Inquiring News

COACH TYLON OUTLAW
Renowned Coach of Bloomfield High School State Championship Football Team [2015]
-- Photo by Bob Thiesfield for Inquiring News


Inquiring News

The city of Hartford has some major explaining to do.

Former college football star Tylon Outlaw, victim of a vicious police beat down 14 years ago, had his $454,197 civil rights award affirmed in March of this year by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The city still has not paid.

Why not?

For perspective, here's more from U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel, in a Nov. 13, 2017 ruling in a related case:

“The City’s position, in addition to being unsupported by precedent, is bewildering. How can Hartford maintain a qualified police force when it is willing to expose its officers to personal liability for compensatory damages for civil rights judgments? What capable officer, in his or her right mind, would want to work for such a city? And what message does this send to the community, the residents of Hartford, when their governing officials promote a position that, in all likelihood, will leave them without full compensation for injuries in the event that they are the victims of a civil rights violation?”

Stay tuned ...

Inquiring News Twitter
Inquiring News Facebook
BACKGROUND
City of Hartford Flip Flopped Last Year on Indemnification of Brutal Cops
Cool Justice Blog

via @QVCC: Video, @JaneDoeNoMore Event - Three women shared their harrowing stories of sexual assault and survival

-- Photo of Dylan Farrow by DENISE ABERCROMBIE

... In response to the Palomba case, Connecticut eliminated the statute of limitations on sex crimes that can be solved with DNA evidence ...












News Reports, Photos of #JaneDoeNoMore Event @QVCC
Cool Justice Blog