Re: 5/23/00 - Chief State'S Attorney Takes Over Murder Probe
Chief State'S Attorney Takes Over Murder Probe
The Associated Press
May 23, 2000
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) The chief state's attorney's office has taken over the investigation into a 1996 slaying amid allegations New Haven police protected a suspect with ties to a city detective.
The agency is already leading a grand jury investigation into the police department's handling of the murder of Philip Cusick, who was found in front of his North Haven home Nov. 6, 1996. Police suspect he was shot in New Haven. North Haven police have made no arrests.
The grand jury is trying to determine whether high-ranking members of the New Haven Police Department failed to tell North Haven police that they had identified a suspect in Cusick's death.
That suspect is the half brother of Arosmo Diaz, a police informant and Latin Kings gang member who was killed along with a New Haven detective's son in a 1994 gang-related shooting in Bridgeport, The Hartford Courant reported today.
The Courant, citing sources it did not identify, said Diaz was killed because of his links to police and 22-year-old Tyler White, the son of New Haven detective Lt. William White, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Two Bridgeport men are serving time in federal prison for the murders, which sparked a federal, local and state crackdown on the Latin Kings and the convictions of 33 gang members in Bridgeport and New Haven.
New Haven Sgt. Edward Kendall, a member of a Latin Kings task force, has been called to testify before the grand jury. Kendall said he lost a taped interview with a potential witness for a year when he got sidetracked by other cases, the New Haven Register has reported.
Kendall did not return calls seeking comment Monday.
White said Monday that authorities have not asked him about the North Haven murder or any connection to his son's case.
''They can call me (to testify) or do whatever they want because I don't know anything about that,'' White said.
The chief state's attorney's office may use the grand jury to obtain an indictment in Cusick's slaying. At least one other man, who was with Cusick the night of the killing, also has been investigated.
New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington launched his own inquiry into the Cusick case in March. Inspectors with Dearington's office interviewed several city police officers and supervisors.
When the probe stalled several weeks ago, Dearington applied for an investigative grand jury. He then transferred the investigation to the office of the chief state's attorney.
Dearington could not be reached for comment Monday.
Judge Carmen Elisa Espinosa was appointed to act as a one-person grand jury two weeks ago and is hearing evidence behind closed doors in New Britain Superior Court.
The New Haven Police Department is conducting an internal affairs investigation.
AP-ES-05-23-00 0500
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