thursday, december 18, 1975 long island...
TRANSCRIPT
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1975 LONG ISLAND TRAVELER-WATCHMAN PAGE NINE
Policeman Wins $12,500 AwardA Suffolk County Police Officer,
injured wlien he was pushed into a window ledge by a man he was boolting on drunken driving charges, has been awarded $12,500 for his injuries, follosving a brief Supreme Court trial.
But whether the officer, Louis Havel, 30, of Rocky Point, will ever collect the money from Richard Jam es, 50, of Locust Lane, H untington, the man he claims pushed him, is still in doubt.
Stephen Siben and Ira Kash, lawyers for Havel, said that Jam es is unemployed and was defended by the Legal Aid Society which is the verdict handed down last W ednesday by Supreme Court Justice William Underwood, following a five hour non-jury trial.
Siben and Kash said the law suit was the first of many whereby police arc injured in the line of duty.
“ This is a first, since the police decided they would sue those who fight and injure them when they are performing their duties,” Siben declared.
Havel claimed he was injured December 20, 1972, when after arresting Jam es for drunken driving, he was booking him at the Fourth Precinct in Hauppauge. He charged that Jam es lurched back into him, pushing him into a window ledge, causing spinal injuries. Havel was hospitalized for several days and was not able to return to duty for a month. Jam es later pleaded guilty to harassment charges in District Court, and was given a suspended sentence.
DeMaio Geared Of ChargesSuffolk County Police Officer Albert
DeMaio, 32, of Patchogue, was cleared of assault charges last Thursday evening by a six man. six woman County Court Jury that deliberated less than three hours.
DeMaio was charged with police brutality for the alleged beating of school teacher Joseph Biondo, 25, of Bay Shore, who he arrested for speeding early on the morning of July 12.1973, after a wild high-speed chase including an accident between the cars of the speeder and DeMaio. through Bay Shore.
Biondo. indicted by a different grand jury that indicted DeMaio on assault second degree charges, claimed he was beaten by DeMaio, with his billy club, punched and then kicked. His claim was backed by several witnesses. DeMaio insisted the two grappled and struggled, fell and that Biondo struck his head on a curbing block and that his billy club might have come in contact with Biondo’s back.
The jury deliberated 2 hours and 40 minutes after the 6 day trial before County Judge Ernest Signorelli. Leonard Wexler. defending DeMaio. charged his indictment was the work of Chief Assistant District Attorney Saviero Fierro who, long at odds with Police Commissioner Eugene Kelley, •‘wanted to get a cop” to em barrass Kelley. But Supreme Court Justice George J . Aspland, district attorney at the time, testified and said he ordered Fierro to investigate the brutality
allegation because of its significance.And jurors questioned after the
verdict said they did not consider the Wexler charges. One female juror said they all felt that any beating administered by DeMaio was “ unintentional” .
After the verdict, DeMaio em braced his wife and sister, and vowed he was “ going partying". Later that night he was joined by many of his fellow officers and high ranking officers in a victory celebration.
Wexler, who had feared a guilty verdict, could only express pleasure with the results. Assistant District Attorney John Mullin quickly left the court room without comment.
Police Commissioner Eugene Kelley, in a blast aimed at Fierro, who becomes a Family Court Judge next month, declared the jury decision indicted “jurors will not permit politically ambitious people to build their political images on the backs of police officers who are simply trying to do their job .”
Kelley and District Attorney Henry O'Brien are now embroiled in a bitter feud that is the subject of a special grand jury investigation.
Biondo. meanwhile, indicted on 18 counts including drunken driving, reckless endangerment and num erous traffic charges, has moved for dismissal of the indictment against him, because it hasn’t even been on the trial calendar for 20 months. That motion is to be argued this week in County Court.
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W eek In The C ourts Aspland Rules Against Students
Sixteen Arraiped As Welfore Gieals
The Suffoli; District Attorney's office December 10 announced charges against 16 persons accused of cheating on welfare for a total of $83,703.
Thirteen persons were arraigned in County Court at Riverhead and at District Court, Hauppauge. In all but one case the defendants allegedly concealed income from jobs or un employment insurance, and in one case a couple allegedly concealed the fact that they were living together and both were employed.
The biggest dollar amount was attributed to Mary Doherty, 43. of 2796 Ocean Avenue, Ronkonkoma, who allegedly drew $9,309 more than she would have been entitled to if it had been known that since July 1972 either she was working at the Brook- haven Internal Revenue Service or drawing unemployment benefits.
The defendants, all of whom were released without bail, were identified as Ms. Doherty; Rosemarie. 20. and Herman. 26. Behrhof. 145 Hawthorne Ave.. Central Islip; Mary Jane Allen. 34. 6 Fairway Drive. Port Jefferson Station; Peter Cavataio. 53. 175 S. Phillips Avenue. Speonk; Susan Blackmore. 26. 465 Ackerman St.. Central Islip; Walter Fussner. 47. 64 10th Street. Lake Ronkonkoma; Bertha Lewis. 22. 17 Sammis Street. Babylon; Diana Ruff. 30. 19 Daisy Place. Seldon; Florence Scheider. 32, 460-27C Old Town Road. Port Jefferson Station; Sara Bond, 30. 15 Beta Drive. Amityville; Helen Gentile. 40. 349 Smith Avenue. Islip. and Eloise Thompson. 29. 29 Kings Street. Wyandanch.
Pleads Guilty To
Reduced ChargesA 33 year old Central Islip man.
indicted on murder charges last August for the slaying of his wife with a machete and a pistol, pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of manslaughter first degree in satisfaction of a murder indictment.
Edil O. Rodriquez of 50 Brightside Ave.. Central Islip. pleaded guilty before County Judge John J . J. Jones, and was sent back to jail without bail. He faces up to 25 years in jail when he is to be sentenced on January 19.
Rodriguez was arrested on August I. just after he hacked his wife. Carmen. 28. a dozen times with a machete and then shot her three times, as police ran up to his house.
The slaying occurred in the Rodriguez home, and their five children were in the house at the time, police said. She and the family had arrived from Puerto Rico in May and he followed her in July, according to authorities.
DelMastro Pleads
InnocenceWealthy Smithtown businessman
John Del Mastro. long considered ‘‘close to organized crime” , by law enibrccnient authorities, surrendered Thursday to Suffolk County Court and pleaded innocent to an indictment accusing him and an associate of two counts each of grand larceny, forgery and falsifying business records.
Del Mastro, 68. of 17 Eckerkamp Drive. Smithtown. and Joseph P.
(Continued on Page 11)
Supreme Court Justice George J. Aspland yesterday tossed out the law suit of several State University students at Stony Brook, who last week, acting as their own lawyers, sued to stop the college from shutting down most of the dormitories over the holidays as an economy measure.
Two of the students, Michael J. Miciak, a graduate student, of Hollywood, Fla., and Lawrence Spielberg of upstate Tappan. a health sciences undergraduate student, claimed their dorms should remain open, during the period between Dec. 20 and Jan. 18, as they were promised in the fall. They differed with the University’s claim that shutting down 24 of the 28 dormitories on the campus would save over $3,000 a day in fuel and electricity costs.
The Judge noted that students living more than 500 miles away or in special cases, can remain on campus in the dorms that are staying open. He termed the claims of the students "tenuous,” said their position "seem s unreasonable.” noted the entire state university system as elsewhere in the state, faces a budget crunch, and dismissed their law suit.
The students had planned demonstrations at the campus later this week to protest the shutting of the dorms and extending the holiday closing from Jan. 12 to Jan. 18.
The students involved are Lawrence Spielberg. Kathy Ayers. Rosemary Carbone. Ernest Petito, Jr ., and Michael J. Miciak. Miciak, a grad uate student and employed by the sociology department at the campus, and Spielberg, a health sciences student, acted as lawyers for them selves and the others, and claimed they had the backing of hundreds of students who may be affected. Assisting them, but not allowed to speak was long-time student Mitchel Cohen, of Brooklyn, who spent seven
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years at the cainpus. and was continually a thorn in the side of the juniversity administration, police, and the courts. He also spent 90 days in jail three years ago for his part in student rioting and disruptive acts at Stony Brook.
In fact, Aspland, former Suffolk District Attorney, whose office prosecuted Cohen, remarked to him "haven ’t we met before?"Claims Hardship
Miciak claimed it would cause him a hardship to close down the
(Continued on Page 12)
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