From the Queens Courier:After Justice William Erlbaum declined to allow videotaping and restricted the photography in his courtroom stating that he has been inappropriately lobbied by people who want him to decide on a sentence before the trial, the case of the People v. Hiram Monserrate began.
Those who sat in courtroom K-4 of the Queens Supreme Court on Monday, September 21, 2009 finally listened to opening arguments from District Attorney (DA) Scott Kessler and State Senator Monserrate’s defense attorneys led by Joseph Tacopina – and three prosecution witness – on a bizarre case that has had a frenzy of the public and media attention from the of moment Monserrate’s arrest on the morning of December 19, 2008.
“We are here to support our senator who is being accused unjustly,” said Angelica Mazariegas, a domestic violence survivor from Flushing who along with about a dozen women members of the organization Community Prevention Alternatives for Families in Crisis cheered Monserrate when he walked in the Court today.
Once again, the defense tried to get Judge Erlbaum to find the testimony that victim Karla Giraldo gave to medical personal inadmissible as hearsay, the testimony will be admitted. And though at pre-trial hearings the defense had tried to also find the video surveillance tape inadmissible, Tacopina has found a different use for the tape from the hallways, vestibule and parking lot of Monserrate’s building – as a strategy to show Giraldo’s intoxicated, incoherent and irrational behavior compared to Monserrate’s calm, cool and collected one.
14 comments:
Why no Jury? I've never heard of a criminal case being decided this way and it obviously looks suspicious.
“We are here to support our senator who is being accused unjustly,” said Angelica Mazariegas, a domestic violence survivor from Flushing who along with about a dozen women members of the organization Community Prevention Alternatives for Families in Crisis cheered Monserrate when he walked in the Court today."
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What breathtaking stupidity!
The group should be named: Volunteers for a beating and brutality.
EVERYONE knows that he is either going to get acquited or get a slap on the wrist. Why bother even mentioning such precarious events?
I agree Taxpayer, It's an insult to groups who help women of domestic violence. They should be ashamed of themselves.
So much for Women's Lib. Perhaps these women are just plain stupid from all the beatings they've endured (too many blows to the head). He will walk and he will look back and laugh at the whole situation. His girlfriend will stay with him until the next time he loses his temper and he beats her again.
Actually there's more than women's lib involved here. You have a man who has cowed powerful government officials and against them you put one badly injured woman.
If she feels that everyone is impotent to stop this madman why should she volunteer for another beating or worse.
Sometimes abused women wind up dead too. Judge ye not.
Why no Jury? I've never heard of a criminal case being decided this way and it obviously looks suspicious.
Cops accused of crimes, especially in the Bronx, waive their right to a jury all the time. Would you deny an accused the ability to waive a right? Because that's what Al Sharpton proposed a few years ago. You have a right to a jury, but not an obligation, just like your right to vote, not an obligation to exercise it.
Hold a Marine Corps court marshal instead!
That fat crooked woman abusing pig should be held at Gitmo in the meantime!
I believe that supreme court building is the same place where that infamous criminal Tommy Huang got let off with just a slap on the wrist.
Justice won't be served there because it's too damn close to borough hall...a longtime safe harbor to numerous crooks and their far reaching influence.
Maybe some of its "judges" deserve to go on trial for corruption too along with Monster-rat!
Welcome to our two tier justice system where shady pols get special treatment!
Hiram will be let off easy just like Denis Gallagher and Elliot Spitzer
did!
I'll go for Don Corleone's court system any day.
Anonymous said...
Why no Jury? I've never heard of a criminal case being decided this way and it obviously looks suspicious.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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This is the same tactic used by the lawyers who defended the police officers accused in the Diallo case in the Bronx.
Very shady dealings here. Why do politicians get a free pass? An ordinary citizen would already have been tried and convicted and doing time. Why do they get special treatment? It needs to stop immediately.
“We are here to support our senator who is being accused unjustly,” said Angelica Mazariegas, a domestic violence survivor from Flushing who along with about a dozen women members of the organization Community Prevention Alternatives for Families in Crisis cheered Monserrate when he walked in the Court today.
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check out how much money he gives them!!
http://itsyourmoneynyc.com/app/groups/show/329
Yadda yadda.
The idea of a bench trial is because juries are often swayed by emotionality and perception.
Judges are bound by their oath to consider only the legal issues.
The statistical incidence of women who recant and even defend their abusers would impress a jury, but might very well not rise above reasonable doubt in this case.
So when the fine points of law are on their side but perception isn't, smart lawyers opt for trial-by-judge.
The truly cynical can take heart in the fact that the installation of Ravitch as president of the Senate makes Monserrate politically expendable -- and a special in his district would surely fill the seat with another Democrat.
The guy in the upper left of the photo is "horsehead" Tony Miranda of the National Latino officers Association.I guess a little moral and $$$ support goes a long way for this opportunist/racist.I wonder if all his dues paying cops don't mind giving their hard earned cash to hymie?
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