| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (875) | 12/24/2000 1:37:17 AM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: Follow-up to Kim Thomas murder
Kim Thomas was murdered on July 27th, 1990. Ed Friedland, the victim's husband, was labeled the prime suspect from the start. Friedland always maintained his innocence and undertook his own investigation to find the real killer. Four years later, in 1994, he was finally indicted for it, but prosecutors dismissed the charge in 1995 for lack of evidence. In March of 1995 Friedland finally learned of Marion Gales, against whom, on March 29, 1996, Friedland filed and won a wrongful-death suit and was awarded $8.6 million by the jury. Gales asked for and was granted a judgment notwithstanding the jury verdict (JNOV), the judge ruling the statute of limitations had long since expired. On Dec. 29, 1998, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina reversed the opinion on the grounds Gales actively and deliberately concealed facts that would have led to his discovery as the killer (see rmwflaw.com. Friedland then sued the city of Charlotte and four police investigators, claiming they botched the investigation, maligned him and ignored Gales who had a history of area break-ins. The case is expected to go to trial next year. In May of 1998 the murder was featured on NBC's Dateline. Despite the jury finding against Gales, the Thomas murder is still officially listed as unsolved.
- Jeff |
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (874) | 1/15/2001 7:58:27 PM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/15/01 - NH Register: City police coverup still a mystery
City police coverup still a mystery
William Kaempffer, Register Staff January 15, 2001
NEW HAVEN — Despite two lengthy investigations, motive remains a mystery in the case of evidence hidden from another police department as a murder remained unsolved.
Neither a state grand jury nor internal police probe found answers to the key question: Why would a top detective here abruptly halt a probe and withhold the identity of a possible suspect?
Last month, Judge Carmen Elisa Espinosa, the one-person grand jury, reported a six-month probe and 57 witnesses failed to reveal a reason. Her probe led to the arrest of police Capt. Brian Sullivan, the former head of detectives.
And last week, police internal affairs investigators also reported they didn’t discover why the alleged cover-up occurred.
"We don’t know the motive," said police Chief Melvin H. Wearing.
But Wearing said that it could have been as simple as one police officer stonewalling an investigation out of personal animosity.
Wearing said he believed the entire episode could have stemmed from a personal dislike between Sullivan and his counterpart in North Haven, Capt. Thomas Habib.
"It was no more than that," Wearing speculated last week.
Another theory inside the police department was examined by internal affairs.
According to the police probe, the Internal Values and Ethics unit examined a rumored link between the 1994 murder of a New Haven police lieutenant’s son and the 1996 murder of Philip Cusick, the case in which police allegedly hid evidence.
The theory maintains that the suspected killer in the Cusick case was protected by police because of informant ties to New Haven Lt. William L. White.
The lieutenant’s son, Tyler White, was murdered in Bridgeport with another man, Arosmo Diaz, in 1994 in a gang-related shooting. Diaz was believed to have been an informant for White.
The possible suspect in the Cusick killing is Diaz’s half-brother.
Internal affairs investigated whether Diaz’s alleged ties with Lt. White may have led police to protect the Cusick suspect.
Capt. Bryan Kearney and Lt. John Minardi, both of internal affairs, said they reviewed New Haven informant files to look for connections. They did not find Diaz, his half-brother or the man who named the half-brother as a suspect in the Cusick killing as registered informants with the department.
Kearney and Minardi also checked New Haven and Bridgeport files on the White/Diaz double murder looking for "common elements."
According to the internal report, the investigators found the name of the possible suspect in the Cusick murder in a New Haven police report about the Bridgeport murder.
They also spoke with the FBI and learned that the possible suspect in the Cusick murder had not been a police informant in the White/Diaz slayings.
In the end, Kearney reported they could neither prove or disprove the theory.
"We did not find any concrete evidence to establish a link between the two cases or anything that suggested wrongdoing by Lieutenant White," Kearney wrote.
Kearney later wrote in the report that "we can not establish a connection between the two cases or substantiate the rumors at this time."
Cusick was killed in November 1996, some two years after White and Diaz died.
Police believe Cusick died in a soured drug deal in New Haven but his body was dropped outside his parents’ home in North Haven.
©New Haven Register 2001
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| To: ecommerceman who wrote (878) | 1/24/2001 10:06:54 PM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/24/01 - Hartford Courant: Suspect In Yale Death Sues Courant For Libel
Suspect In Yale Death Sues Courant For Libel
The Hartford Courant
January 24, 2001
A former Yale University faculty member who has been identified by police as a suspect in the stabbing death of a student has accused The Courant of publishing false statements about him, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
James Van de Velde, who has not been charged in the 1998 slaying of Yale senior Suzanne Jovin, accused the newspaper of printing "false, defamatory and malicious" information concerning his conduct with two local television reporters.
The article disputed by Van de Velde, published Jan. 13, 1999, said both television reporters complained about him to the New Haven police. In the lawsuit, filed in Hartford Superior Court, Van de Velde called the newspaper's reporting on the television reporters "libelous."
"We believe the story was accurate," Clifford Teutsch, the Courant's managing editor, said Tuesday.
Van de Velde's lawyer, David T. Grudberg of New Haven, could not be reached for comment. Van de Velde now lives in Virginia.
Van de Velde, who was Jovin's senior essay adviser, maintains his innocence.
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (879) | 1/25/2001 9:25:37 AM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/25/01 - NH Register (front page headline): Ex-Yale lecturer sues Quinnipiac
Ex-Yale lecturer sues Quinnipiac
Walter Kita, Register Staff January 25, 2001
[picture]
Van de Velde
NEW HAVEN — A former Yale instructor identified as a suspect in the slaying of one of his students is suing Quinnipiac University for defamation, claiming the school wrongfully dismissed him from a master’s degree program soon after news reports linked him to the case.
James R. Van de Velde alleges that Quinnipiac officials made "false, defamatory and malicious" statements about him to reporters in their explanations for his dismissal from the school’s broadcast journalism program.
The suit does not specify the amount of financial damages being sought. It was filed Wednesday in Superior Court.
Quinnipiac has cited academic reasons for its decision, but Van de Velde and his attorney, David Grudberg, maintain the dismissal was prompted by negative publicity stemming from a police investigation into the murder of Yale senior Suzanne Jovin. The case drew international media attention.
Wednesday’s suit comes one day after Van de Velde and Grudberg notified the Hartford Courant of their intent to sue the paper for libel stemming from a Jan. 13, 1999, story related to the Jovin case.
"Today, I begin my effort to hold certain Connecticut institutions and individuals accountable for their misconduct, slander and false statements," Van de Velde said Wednesday in a statement issued through Grudberg’s office.
Van de Velde has not been charged and continues to deny any involvement in Jovin’s killing.
Van de Velde was an instructor in Yale’s political science department and was Jovin’s thesis adviser at the time of her death.
She was stabbed to death in the city’s East Rock neighborhood Dec. 4, 1998.
In January 1999, police named Van de Velde as belonging to a "pool of suspects" in the case. No other suspects were named. Soon after, Yale relieved him of his teaching duties, saying his presence in the classroom would be a "major distraction" to students.
Yale did not renew his contract for the fall 1999 semester.
"Over the last 24 months I have learned a great deal about the conduct of the administrations of Yale and Quinnipiac universities and how I became embroiled in the investigation," Van de Velde’s statement reads. "Today, I hold officials at Quinnipiac University accountable for their libel and extending the insinuation that I could have been responsible for the murder of my student."
His suit against Quinnipiac alleges that as a result of the Hamden school’s actions he has "suffered loss of employment and employment opportunity" as well as "pain, anxiety and mental anguish and humiliation."
Van de Velde lives in Virginia, according to the suit. Grudberg would not comment on Van de Velde’s employment status.
Quinnipiac’s director of public relations, John Morgan, refused to comment on the matter Wednesday.
Morgan is one of the Quinnipiac officials named in the suit. The others are school President John Lahey, journalism Professor Paul Steinle and Lynne Bushnell, the school’s vice president for communications.
Van de Velde began taking classes in Quinnipiac’s master’s program in broadcast journalism in September 1998, just as he was preparing to begin teaching international diplomacy at Yale.
Steinle sent him a dismissal notification on Dec. 10, one day after the Register reported that a Yale faculty member had emerged as a suspect in the Jovin slaying.
The story did not name Van de Velde. Print and television news media subsequently reported that police had questioned him for several hours in connection with the case.
Soon after Yale relieved him of his teaching duties in January 1999, the Register reported on Quinnipiac’s decision to oust Van de Velde from the broadcast journalism program. The Jan. 15 story quoted a source as saying that Van de Velde’s failure to complete two internships was the impetus for the move. Those are the same reasons Steinle cited in his December letter to Van de Velde, according to the suit.
Van de Velde maintains he completed all the course requirements.
"The January 15th false statements (by the source) were a pretext attempting to justify Quinnipiac’s suspension of (Van de Velde) after he was publicly linked to a high profile murder investigation," the lawsuit reads.
The separate lawsuit against the Courant was filed over a Jan. 13, 1999, report that two female television reporters had complained to New Haven police that he was harassing them. The women had met Van de Velde while he worked internships at two stations prior to the Jovin slaying.
The suit accuses the Courant of printing "false, defamatory and malicious" information.
"We believe the story was accurate," said Clifford Teutsch, the newspaper’s managing editor.
In a separate statement issued Wednesday Van de Velde criticized the New Haven police department for its handling of the Jovin case.
Van de Velde called the police department’s investigation "atrocious." The Associated Press contributed to this story.
©New Haven Register 2001
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (880) | 1/25/2001 9:33:32 AM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/25/01 - YDN (front page lead story): Van de Velde files defamation suits; Hartford paper among defendents
Published Thursday, January 25, 2001
Van de Velde files defamation suits
Hartford paper among defendents
BY ANDREW PACIOREK
YDN Staff Reporter
Former Yale lecturer James Van de Velde '82 is separately suing the Hartford Courant and Quinnipiac University for allegedly making defamatory statements about him subsequent to the 1998 murder of Suzanne Jovin '99.
More lawsuits may be on the way. Van de Velde has repeatedly said he intends to sue both Yale and the New Haven Police Department, although neither he nor his lawyer, David Grudberg '82, would comment on the possibility of further suits Wednesday.
"Today, I begin my effort to hold certain Connecticut institutions and individuals accountable for their misconduct, slander and false statements, which wrongly propelled my name into the Suzanne Jovin murder investigation," Van de Velde said in a written statement.
Van de Velde is the only suspect in the Jovin case whom New Haven police have named. He has never been charged in connection with the murder.
The Courant suit concerns a Jan. 13, 1999, front-page article in which the newspaper, citing an unnamed source, reported that two television news reporters had filed complaints about Van de Velde with the New Haven Police Department.
One of the two reporters complained because Van de Velde had harassed her after she broke off a "fledgling relationship," the Courant reported, citing a police source.
But Van de Velde said Wednesday the Courant's reporting was false, defamatory and malicious and called it "slander." Moreover, he said the Courant neither sought his comment on the harassment issue nor confirmed the supposed complaints with the two women thought to have made them.
"The journalists of the Hartford Courant either wrote utterly false information to defame and slander me, information which they should have known to be false, or they were manipulated by a New Haven police officer who was bent on insinuating my guilt in the Suzanne Jovin murder case by feeding misinformation to gullible journalists," Van de Velde said.
The Courant, however, is standing by the article.
"We believe the story was accurate," Courant Managing Editor Clifford Teutsch said. He declined to elaborate or comment further on the lawsuit.
If Teutsch's belief is wrong, the paper could be in trouble.
"If [the report] is not true, it's very likely actionable libel," Quinnipiac Law School professor William Dunlap said.
The basis for the Quinnipiac lawsuit is considerably more complicated. Van de Velde was working towards a master's degree in broadcast journalism and taking a class at the university when Jovin was murdered Dec. 4, 1998.
After Van de Velde's name appeared as a suspect in local newspapers, the head of the Quinnipiac program, Paul Steinle, sent Van de Velde a letter suspending him, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says the letter based the suspension on the circumstances surrounding two internships held by Van de Velde with local television stations. But Van de Velde said the information regarding the internships was false and said he informed Steinle so.
About a month later, Jan. 15, 1999, a report in the New Haven Register cited "sources" in revealing the substance of the letter, which was "an academic record required to be kept confidential under federal law." The lawsuit maintains the only way the Register could have obtained the information is if Steinle or some other Quinnipiac officer had leaked it.
Because the information was false, the lawsuit says, its revelation to the press was an act of defamation.
In addition, Quinnipiac spokeswoman Lynn Bushnell told the New York Times Jan. 28, 1999, that Quinnipiac dismissed Van de Velde for "academic reasons." Van de Velde said he had an "excellent academic reputation" that was ruined by Bushnell's false statement, another alleged act of defamation.
John Morgan, Quinnipiac's director of public relations and a defendant named in the lawsuit, declined to comment on behalf of the university on any subject related to the lawsuit.
"The reason they decline to tell you why I was dismissed is because they made up reasons to kick me out of their program, then refused to allow me to follow the school's procedures to appeal the suspension," Van de Velde told the Yale Daily News last night in an e-mail. "Their behavior was outrageous."
Shortly after Quinnipiac terminated his enrollment, Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead relieved Van de Velde of his teaching responsibilities in the Political Science Department for the spring semester. Yale also declined to renew his one-year lecturer's contract at the end of the term.
Van de Velde has said he plans to sue Yale and the NHPD and has repeatedly denounced both.
"The conduct of the New Haven police in the Jovin case has been atrocious," Van de Velde said. "It is astounding how little which has been published and insinuated is remotely true. The community allows such misconduct to stand at its own peril."
Through spokeswoman Judith Mongillo, New Haven Police Chief Melvin H. Wearing declined to comment Wednesday on the Courant suit or the NHPD's role in providing facts to the newspaper.
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (881) | 1/25/2001 9:38:36 AM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/25/01 - (YDN Editorial): James Van de Velde takes on the press
THE NEWS' VIEW
James Van de Velde takes on the press
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published 1/25/01
The two-year long saga that began when former Yale lecturer James Van de Velde was publically named a suspect in the murder of Suzanne Jovin '99 has sorely tested the media's standards and two universities' principles. This week, a handful of journalists and public relations officers who helped frame Van de Velde's public record in the last 25 months are facing down accusations of libel and defamation in cases that could have a chilling effect on the local media and how they gather information.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court, lawyers for Van de Velde accuse communications staffers at Quinnipiac University, where Van de Velde was enrolled in a master's program in 1998, of defaming him by allegedly releasing the contents of a private letter to the New Haven Register terminating his enrollment after he became a suspect. The lawsuit also accuses a Quinnipiac officer of defamation for a quote attributed to her in the New York Times. In a second lawsuit, Van de Velde accuses The Hartford Courant, the state's largest newspaper, of libel for publishing "false, defamatory and malicious" information concerning his conduct with two local television reporters.
The question at the heart of the suits is, of course, the law and whether it was broken in either case; but there is also the unique relationship between reporters and their sources, actual or alleged. Both lawsuits -- which refer to sources unnamed by Van de Velde's attorneys or the newspapers in the cases -- appear to be troubling attempts to smoke out the identities of confidential sources, a prospect that if carried out would impinge on a relationship vital to the operation of a free press. The lawsuit against Quinnipiac is particularly startling because it threatens to interpose a court between a local news reporter and protected sources while seeking compensation for the alleged destruction of a suspect's reputation.
The public story of Van de Velde's last two years, meticulously chronicled in papers throughout Connecticut and the nation, raises serious and legitimate legal questions. A trial that attempts to reveal the identities of media sources in the case is likely to raise questions of equal gravity.
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (882) | 1/25/2001 9:45:53 AM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/25/01 - AP/Hartford Courant: Van De Velde Sues Quinnipiac University
CONNECTICUT » APWIRE
Van De Velde Sues Quinnipiac University
Associated Press
January 25, 2001
NEW HAVEN Conn. (AP)- A second libel lawsuit, this time against Quinnipiac University, has been filed by a former Yale instructor who had been labeled a suspect in the killing of one of his students.
The lawsuit filed in Superior Court by James R. Van de Velde Wednesday claims the school wrongfully dismissed him from a masters degree program soon after news reports linked him to the case.
The lawsuit claims Quinnipiac officials made "false, defamatory and malicious" statements about Van de Velde in their explanations for his dismissal from the school's broadcast journalism program.
The Quinnipiac suit was filed a day after Van de Velde sued the Hartford Courant over a Jan. 13, 1999, report that two female television reporters had complained to New Haven police that he was harassing them. The women had met Van de Velde while he worked internships at two stations prior to the Jovin slaying.
The suit accuses the Courant of printing "false, defamatory and malicious" information.
"We believe the story was accurate," said Clifford Teutsch, the newspaper's managing editor. sought.
Quinnipiac has cited academic reasons for its decision, but Van de Velde and his attorney, David Grudberg, maintain the dismissal was prompted by negative publicity stemming from a police investigation into the murder of Yale senior Suzanne Jovin.
New Haven police have said Van de Velde was in "a pool of suspects" in the Dec. 4, 1998, death of senior Suzanne Jovin, but he has never been charged.
Van de Velde, who was Jovin's senior thesis adviser, has maintained his innocence.
"Today, I begin my effort to hold certain Connecticut institutions and individuals accountable for their misconduct, slander and false statements," Van de Velde said Wednesday in a statement issued through Grudberg's office.
Quinnipiac's director of public relations, John Morgan, refused to comment on the matter Wednesday.
AP-ES-01-25-01 0803EST
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (883) | 1/25/2001 1:26:25 PM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/24/01 - AP/WTNH: Statement of James Van de Velde; Van de Velde sues Courant for libel; Former Yale instructor files second libel lawsuit
Statement of James Van de Velde
January 24, 2001
In their January 13, 1999, front page article, the journalists of the Hartford Courant either wrote utterly false information to defame and slander me, information which they should have known to be false, or they were manipulated by a New Haven police officer who was bent on insinuating my guilt in the Suzanne Jovin murder case by feeding misinformation to gullible journalists. Neither Mr. Altimeri or Mr. Weiss asked to see copies of complaints against me (they could not have, since there are none), nor did they solicit my comment on their story, nor did they confirm the complaints with the alleged complainants.
It is sad that New Haven Police Chief Melvin Wearing denounces his own officers when they act as whistle blowers for cases of police misconduct but remained silent when subordinates fed false information and innuendo to the Connecticut and national press to insinuate my possible guilt in the murder of my student, Suzanne Jovin, and to cover up New Haven Police incompetence.
The conduct of the New Haven Police in the Jovin case has been atrocious. It is astounding how little which has been published and insinuated is remotely true. The community allows such misconduct to stand at its own peril.
wtnh.com
=====
Van de Velde sues Courant for libel
(AP/WTNH, Jan. 24, 2001 5:10 PM) _ The Hartford Courant is being sued for libel by a former Yale University instructor who was identified as a suspect in the 1998 slaying of a Yale student.
New Haven police have said that James Van de Velde was in a pool of suspects in the death of Suzanne Jovin. But authorities haven't charged Van de Velde or anyone else.
Van de Velde, who was Jovin's senior thesis adviser, says he's innocent.
"It is astounding how little which has been published and insinuated is remotely true," Van de Velde said in a statement e-mailed to News Channel 8 and other media organizations in Connecticut.
His lawsuit was filed over a January 1999 report in the Courant that two female television reporters had complained to New Haven police that they were being harassed by Van de Velde.
Van de Velde claims the Courant printed false, defamatory and malicious information.
The Courant says the story was accurate.
wtnh.com
=====
Former Yale instructor files second libel lawsuit
(New Haven-AP, Jan. 25, 2001 7:15 AM) _ A second libel lawsuit in as many days has been filed by a former Yale instructor who had been labeled a suspect in the killing of one of his students.
James Van de Velde is suing Quinnipiac University, claiming the school wrongfully dismissed him from a masters degree program soon after news reports linked him to the case.
The lawsuit claims Quinnipiac officials made "false, defamatory and malicious" statements about him in their explanations for his dismissal from the schools broadcast journalism program.
The lawsuit yesterday comes a day after Van de Velde filed suit against the Hartford Courant for libel stemming from a January 1999 story.
Van de Velde has not been charged and continues to deny any involvement in Jovin's killing.
wtnh.com |
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| To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (871) | 1/25/2001 1:29:27 PM | | From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell | | | | Re: 1/25/01 - NH Advocate: The Chief's Doorstep
The Chief's Doorstep
Hit & Run
By Paul Bass
Published 01/25/01
New Haven's police chief claims a Jan. 4 internal affairs report answers the important questions about a 1996 murder coverup and exonerates his department. Like an earlier grand jury report, it pins the blame for the coverup on one bad cop, says Chief Mel Wearing.
"I don't think there is any other department in the state that can withstand this kind of scrutiny and emerge" with only one cop identified as breaking the law, Wearing says.
But you don't have to read far between the lines of the 69-page report to find criticism of another cop's conduct: the chief's.
The report doesn't accuse Wearing of knowing that his top cops covered up a key eyewitness statement in the 1996 murder of Philip Cusick. Wearing's former chief of detectives, Capt. Brian Sullivan, was arrested last month on charges of hiding that statement and hindering the investigation.
But the internal report's revelations raise serious questions about Wearing's management of the department and the internal investigation. The revelations include that:
* Wearing overruled his own internal affairs investigators in their efforts to obtain "untainted testimony."
* Sullivan's deputy, Sgt. Ed Kendall, took actions that could easily be interpreted as tampering with a witness. Wearing learned of this but took no action.
* Internal investigators wanted to review records of a separate murder case they believed may have been connected to this one. They discovered the files were missing.
Wearing's disciplinary actions in the wake of the internal report raise a further question: What message does he want to send?
He suspended the three detectives who worked on the Cusick investigation. According to the internal report, Sullivan told them to halt the investigation, supposedly based on the chief's order. (Wearing vehemently denies giving that order.) Two of the detectives, smelling a coverup, brought the matter to the attention of prosecutors at the state's attorney's office.
The report quotes Sullivan as later telling the detectives that Wearing was angry at them for talking to the state's attorney. Wearing denies this, too.
Why, then, did he discipline them?
They went to the wrong authorities, the chief says. His cops "better make damn sure the chief is aware of their actions" before going outside the department.
Wearing ordered the internal affairs investigation last April, after New Haven's top prosecutor had already asked for a grand jury investigation. Once Sullivan claimed that Wearing had ordered the coverup, Wearing rightly recused himself from supervising the internal probe. City Hall took over.
But before that, while still in charge, Wearing overruled his internal affairs investigators. They sought to postpone their scheduled interview with Sullivan so that it would coincide with a separate interview of Sullivan's deputy, Sgt. Ed Kendall.
"We felt that interviewing them too far apart would hinder our investigation and prevent spontaneous and unrehearsed testimony from being obtained. We attempted to ... gain untainted testimony," according to the report, written by Capt. Brian Kearney, head of internal affairs.
On May 3, 2000, Wearing called Kearney into his office and "told me not to postpone Capt. Sullivan's interview," Kearney writes. Kearney pressed again for a postponement, but was overruled. A cop working for Kearney then expressed his and Kearney's concerns in a memo. Wearing wouldn't bend.
"The order was followed under protest," Kearney writes.
Wearing says that if Sullivan and Kendall wanted to coordinate their statements, they'd already had plenty of time to do so. "I was pushing to get the job done. They were dragging their feet. I don't need advice from anyone about how to conduct an investigation."
The report states that early in the investigation, Kendall visited the property room and asked two civilian employees to go for a ride. The employees keep track of what comes into and out of the property room--including a missing tape of the Cusick eyewitness interview.
According to the report, Kendall--a subject of the internal investigation--said he was acting on Sullivan's orders. He was taking the civilian employees to the office of a private attorney, Jack Kelly, to give statements about the Cusick case. Kendall told them they couldn't bring a union representative.
One of the employees went. One refused.
Kelly was on retainer with the police department. He also briefly represented Capt. Sullivan in this case, which, if he continued, would have been a conflict of interest.
Wearing didn't learn of this incident until after it happened, according to the report. But he took no disciplinary action.
The report also discusses the internal investigators' efforts to look into one rumored motive for the coverup: a connection to a 1994 murder in Bridgeport, which New Haven cops helped investigate. The investigators discovered that New Haven's files from that case are missing.
Asked last week if he's doing anything about those missing files, Wearing responds, "I don't know what that's about. Everybody's trying to find a motive. I stand by the grand jury report" issued last month, finding that only Sullivan broke the law.
Sullivan refused to talk to the grand jury. That's probably why it made him the lone fall guy.
He may speak yet--when he comes to trial on charges of covering up the murder investigation.
Wearing says he can take the hits in the internal report. "That's why I separated myself from the case. I didn't want any favoritism shown on my behalf. I don't create an environment where people love me. I take hits all day long."
After Kearney wrote this report critical of the chief, Wearing decided to move Kearney out as head of internal affairs. Wearing says Kearney did a "great job" there, but "he wanted" a new challenge.
Kearney will soon direct the traffic enforcement division.
The report states that early in the investigation, Kendall visited the property room and asked two civilian employees to go for a ride. The employees keep track of what comes into and out of the property room--including a missing tape of the Cusick eyewitness interview.
According to the report, Kendall--a subject of the internal investigation--said he was acting on Sullivan's orders. He was taking the civilian employees to the office of a private attorney, Jack Kelly, to give statements about the Cusick case. Kendall told them they couldn't bring a union representative.
One of the employees went. One refused.
Kelly was on retainer with the police department. He also briefly represented Capt. Sullivan in this case, which, if he continued, would have been a conflict of interest.
Wearing didn't learn of this incident until after it happened, according to the report. But he took no disciplinary action.
The report also discusses the internal investigators' efforts to look into one rumored motive for the coverup: a connection to a 1994 murder in Bridgeport, which New Haven cops helped investigate. The investigators discovered that New Haven's files from that case are missing.
Asked last week if he's doing anything about those missing files, Wearing responds, "I don't know what that's about. Everybody's trying to find a motive. I stand by the grand jury report" issued last month, finding that only Sullivan broke the law.
Sullivan refused to talk to the grand jury. That's probably why it made him the lone fall guy.
He may speak yet--when he comes to trial on charges of covering up the murder investigation.
E-mail: pbass@newhavenadvocate.com
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