Re: 9/17/00 - Sergeant may face charges
Sergeant may face charges
William Kaempffer, Register Staff September 17, 2000
NEW HAVEN — The Police Department has drafted an affidavit for the arrest of the former No. 2 man in the detective bureau for allegedly lying to internal affairs investigators during a probe of alleged misconduct in the bureau, according to police sources.
An internal affairs investigator drafted the arrest affidavit against Sgt. Edward Kendall, accusing him of making false statements, a misdemeanor offense, sources said.
The internal affairs investigator forwarded the unsigned document to the state’s attorney’s office.
The accusation stems from statements Kendall made during two interviews in May to the department’s Internal Values and Ethics unit.
The unit, more commonly known as internal affairs, is investigating allegations that the detective bureau hid evidence from North Haven police in the 1996 murder of Philip Cusick.
Those allegations are now also being investigated by a grand jury.
Kendall and Capt. Brian Sullivan, former head of detectives, have been on paid administrative leave since May.
When Kendall made statements to internal affairs investigators in the case, he gave conflicting accounts, sources said.
Prior to any internal affairs interview, officers are instructed they must be truthful under penalty of law and sign a sheet acknowledging they could be charged with making false statements if they lie.
The affidavit maintains Kendall did lie.
Neither Kendall nor his attorney, Joseph M. Wicklow III, could be reached for comment.
Hugh Keefe, Sullivan’s lawyer, said such a document in the midst of a grand jury investigation would be "unprecedented" and "highly improper."
"Never in the sordid history of grand jury investigations in the state of Connecticut have the police on their own attempted to pre-empt the grand jury, which is what this would be. It would be a deliberate attempt to interfere with the working of the grand jury and if I were the grand juror I would be outraged," said Keefe.
Keefe said he had no independent knowledge of any draft, but said such a move would be "a naked attempt to intimidate prospective witnesses."
An affidavit for arrest is the first step in obtaining an arrest warrant. The investigating officer must detail evidence in the case that supports the charge police are pursuing and swear to its accuracy.
Once the affidavit is sworn, a prosecutor reviews it and decides if the officers have probable cause for arrest and whether to proceed. If so, the prosecutor signs off and forwards it to a judge.
The prosecutor can review the unsigned affidavit for Kendall but cannot proceed until it is sworn.
Even then, the prosecutor can opt not to pursue charges.
If a warrant is pursued, it must be signed by both the prosecutor and judge and either one can reject it.
Police believe Cusick, 23, of North Haven was shot in New Haven and his body dropped in North Haven outside his house.
Authorities couldn’t prove where it happened, so North Haven police handled the investigation.
In question is a 1998 witness statement to New Haven police where two detectives uncovered new information in the unsolved case.
An alleged witness to the killing named a possible suspect and picked out his photo. Detectives Stephen Coppola and Edwin Rodriguez taped the interview and had it transcribed.
Afterward, Sullivan, then head of New Haven detectives, ordered them off the case, according to Coppola, Rodriguez and Sgt. Direk Rodgers.
North Haven investigators, however, never were told of the statement, sources said.
The audiotape has disappeared, but a transcript languished in Kendall’s desk drawer for two years until State’s Attorney Michael Dearington began inquiries in January.
Dearington subsequently secured a separate investigative grand jury in April, which is conducting its own probe to determine if anyone acted criminally.
Dearington declined comment Friday.
At the time of the Cusick murder, Kendall was second-in-command of the New Haven detective bureau. Internal affairs is investigating whether bosses in the bureau hid the evidence.
In May, Sullivan told internal affairs investigators he instructed Kendall to forward the evidence to North Haven.
A week later, Kendall told the investigators the same thing and said he forgot to tell North Haven after getting sidetracked on several murder investigations and a period off from work with a back injury.
But Kendall changed his story two weeks later, when he told internal affairs Sullivan never gave the order to forward the evidence to North Haven, according to sources.
Making false statements is a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in jail.
On May 30, Police Chief Melvin H. Wearing placed Sullivan and Kendall on paid administrative leave.
Wearing at the time said "information provided by both men during an internal investigation calls into question the integrity and credibility of how the (Cusick) case was handled and suggests that there was information which should have been turned over to North Haven police." Grand juries are exceedingly rare in Connecticut and meet behind closed doors.
Judge Carmen Elisa Espinosa, who is sitting as the one-person grand jury, has been taking testimony in her New Britain courtroom since May and is expected to subpoena about 50 witnesses.
Meanwhile, the Police Department launched its own internal probe. Sullivan told investigators that Wearing instructed him to halt the murder probe.
Wearing has repeatedly denied giving such a order. He could not be reached for comment Friday.
©New Haven Register 2000
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