Le Jacquelope
Loves Spam
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2003
- Posts
- 76,445
Next thing you know, this judge is gonna be seeing racist conspiracies around every corner. He doesn't realize Recidiva has declared that the 'n' word has lost its bite, the idjit. 
<tongue in cheek off>
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-2/119761401954240.xml&coll=1
Ex-Net's lawyers review records with racial slur
Judge to rule on epithet by officer
Friday, December 14, 2007
BY JENNIFER GOLSON
Star-Ledger Staff
Defense attorneys yesterday for the first time reviewed the records surrounding the former Hunterdon County investigator who described ex-New Jersey Net Jayson Williams with a racial slur.
Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman yesterday examined the documents first before bringing attorneys to his chambers to do the same.
At issue was the file surrounding a former superior officer who had some role in the investigation of the 2002 shooting death of Costas "Gus" Christofi, who was killed at Williams' Alexandria Township estate.
Williams, 39, first went to trial in 2004, accused of recklessly handling a shotgun that fired and struck the 55-year-old limousine driver. A jury cleared him of the most serious charges, but found him guilty of trying to cover up the shooting.
The jury failed to agree on the reckless manslaughter charge, and Williams will be retried on that count next month.
The employee of the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office used a racial epithet to describe Williams during a meeting within the office in 2002. A colleague reported it to the state Division of Criminal Justice, and discipline followed. The individual left the office in 2004.
Coleman let both sides argue over whether the records should be disclosed. The information came to light when Hunterdon County Prosecutor J. Patrick Barnes raised the issue in a letter dated Oct. 18 to the judge.
Williams strode into the courtroom yesterday, accompanied by his wife, Tanya, and took his seat with defense attorneys Joseph Hayden Jr., William Martin and Christopher Adams. More than two dozen supporters were there on his behalf.
Across the aisle, Cristofi's relatives filled the front row behind Assistant Prosecutors Bennett Barlyn, Katharine Errickson and Dawn Solari.
Hayden went first, exclaiming racial bias has no place in an investigation. "We want to know who was that officer? What was his role in the investigation? Who did he supervise? Who else was there? What did other people say?," he asked.
He said the defense has no way of knowing what impact those comments had on others or on the investigation and subsequent trial.
"Is that reference and that comment an indication of an attitude in the investigation of Mr. Williams?" Hayden asked.
Hayden said the defense could have used the information when it challenged the demographics involved in jury selection for the first trial, and when the state called now-deceased Lt. Dan James to testify about how the investigation was conducted.
With just as much fervor in his voice as the defense attorney's, Barlyn insisted Hayden is making more out of the officer's involvement than he should and he accused the defense of interjecting race into case. Williams' father is black and his mother is white.
"His outrage over this issue is misplaced," Barlyn said. The prosecutor's office, "prompted by its own sense of propriety and ethical obligation" informed the court about the issue. They decided to bring it to the judge, he said, so a neutral arbiter could determine how to best handle it.
"(The offending officer) was never called as a witness at the first trial," Barlyn said. "He had no direct knowledge of the case" and did not directly handle evidence.
"This individual is not the Hunterdon County equivalent of Mark Fuhrman," Barlyn said, referring to the former Los Angeles detective in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. Fuhrman, who had a history of making racist comments, collected key evidence and testified in that trial.
Errickson briefly interjected yesterday, and simply put on the record how little she knew about the incident from years ago.
"I did not know of a racial epithet used against the defendant by a member of my office," she said. "I did not know of any report generated by that investigation or any discipline imposed."
After the judge agreed to a review of the offending officer's file, Adams renewed the defense's request for information about the 2005 death of James, the lead investigator in the case. It "could include something written by Lt. James prior to his death," Adams said.
Errickson said the state did not respond to that request prior, deeming it offensive, and there was no evidence that James was a superior officer for the one whose file Coleman was going to review.
The judge denied the request.
It was unclear what information would be used or placed on the public record, if any once the judge completes his review.
The judge can allow the defense to see the information without ever allowing it to be admitted at trial. But the defense can still use it to hunt for other evidence, said Louis Raveson, a professor at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, who teaches evidence and trial practice.
"Bias is one of the most important types of information that parties are entitled to find out about and to present at trial," Raveson said, "so that the jury knows how much credibility to give a particular witness."
Plainfield artist Alonzo Adams, a close friend of Williams, said he "wasn't shocked" by the revelation of the use of a racial slur.
Adams added that the use of the racial epithet was only what the defense knows now. "I believe in the iceberg theory," he said. "How deep does it really go?"
"I just really wish people knew the Jayson I know," Adams said. "He's a great guy. I'll support him until the end."
Staff writers Nyier Abdou, John Holl and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
© 2007 The Star Ledger
© 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.
<tongue in cheek off>
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-2/119761401954240.xml&coll=1
Ex-Net's lawyers review records with racial slur
Judge to rule on epithet by officer
Friday, December 14, 2007
BY JENNIFER GOLSON
Star-Ledger Staff
Defense attorneys yesterday for the first time reviewed the records surrounding the former Hunterdon County investigator who described ex-New Jersey Net Jayson Williams with a racial slur.
Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman yesterday examined the documents first before bringing attorneys to his chambers to do the same.
At issue was the file surrounding a former superior officer who had some role in the investigation of the 2002 shooting death of Costas "Gus" Christofi, who was killed at Williams' Alexandria Township estate.
Williams, 39, first went to trial in 2004, accused of recklessly handling a shotgun that fired and struck the 55-year-old limousine driver. A jury cleared him of the most serious charges, but found him guilty of trying to cover up the shooting.
The jury failed to agree on the reckless manslaughter charge, and Williams will be retried on that count next month.
The employee of the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office used a racial epithet to describe Williams during a meeting within the office in 2002. A colleague reported it to the state Division of Criminal Justice, and discipline followed. The individual left the office in 2004.
Coleman let both sides argue over whether the records should be disclosed. The information came to light when Hunterdon County Prosecutor J. Patrick Barnes raised the issue in a letter dated Oct. 18 to the judge.
Williams strode into the courtroom yesterday, accompanied by his wife, Tanya, and took his seat with defense attorneys Joseph Hayden Jr., William Martin and Christopher Adams. More than two dozen supporters were there on his behalf.
Across the aisle, Cristofi's relatives filled the front row behind Assistant Prosecutors Bennett Barlyn, Katharine Errickson and Dawn Solari.
Hayden went first, exclaiming racial bias has no place in an investigation. "We want to know who was that officer? What was his role in the investigation? Who did he supervise? Who else was there? What did other people say?," he asked.
He said the defense has no way of knowing what impact those comments had on others or on the investigation and subsequent trial.
"Is that reference and that comment an indication of an attitude in the investigation of Mr. Williams?" Hayden asked.
Hayden said the defense could have used the information when it challenged the demographics involved in jury selection for the first trial, and when the state called now-deceased Lt. Dan James to testify about how the investigation was conducted.
With just as much fervor in his voice as the defense attorney's, Barlyn insisted Hayden is making more out of the officer's involvement than he should and he accused the defense of interjecting race into case. Williams' father is black and his mother is white.
"His outrage over this issue is misplaced," Barlyn said. The prosecutor's office, "prompted by its own sense of propriety and ethical obligation" informed the court about the issue. They decided to bring it to the judge, he said, so a neutral arbiter could determine how to best handle it.
"(The offending officer) was never called as a witness at the first trial," Barlyn said. "He had no direct knowledge of the case" and did not directly handle evidence.
"This individual is not the Hunterdon County equivalent of Mark Fuhrman," Barlyn said, referring to the former Los Angeles detective in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. Fuhrman, who had a history of making racist comments, collected key evidence and testified in that trial.
Errickson briefly interjected yesterday, and simply put on the record how little she knew about the incident from years ago.
"I did not know of a racial epithet used against the defendant by a member of my office," she said. "I did not know of any report generated by that investigation or any discipline imposed."
After the judge agreed to a review of the offending officer's file, Adams renewed the defense's request for information about the 2005 death of James, the lead investigator in the case. It "could include something written by Lt. James prior to his death," Adams said.
Errickson said the state did not respond to that request prior, deeming it offensive, and there was no evidence that James was a superior officer for the one whose file Coleman was going to review.
The judge denied the request.
It was unclear what information would be used or placed on the public record, if any once the judge completes his review.
The judge can allow the defense to see the information without ever allowing it to be admitted at trial. But the defense can still use it to hunt for other evidence, said Louis Raveson, a professor at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, who teaches evidence and trial practice.
"Bias is one of the most important types of information that parties are entitled to find out about and to present at trial," Raveson said, "so that the jury knows how much credibility to give a particular witness."
Plainfield artist Alonzo Adams, a close friend of Williams, said he "wasn't shocked" by the revelation of the use of a racial slur.
Adams added that the use of the racial epithet was only what the defense knows now. "I believe in the iceberg theory," he said. "How deep does it really go?"
"I just really wish people knew the Jayson I know," Adams said. "He's a great guy. I'll support him until the end."
Staff writers Nyier Abdou, John Holl and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
© 2007 The Star Ledger
© 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.
