Re: 12/7/01 - AP: Suspect In Yale Student Killing Sues New Haven Police [four versions]
Suspect In Yale Student Killing Sues New Haven Police
6:17 PM EST,December 7, 2001
Associated Press
NEW HAVEN -- A former Yale lecturer who is a suspect in the killing of his student, Suzanne Jovin, sued the police department Friday, alleging police violated his civil rights and destroyed his life by naming him a suspect.
James Van de Velde, 41, said the police department's actions have damaged his reputation, his career and his health and have spread negative publicity about him around the world.
In an e-mailed statement to the press, Van de Velde said: "I refuse to remain a victim of the New Haven Police."
"New Haven will long be known as the city where police wantonly point fingers at innocent people to feign competence and progress in a high profile investigation," he wrote.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages against several police officials, personally and in their official capacities.
Van de Velde also continues to demand that the police clear his name, said his lawyer, David Grudberg.
Chief Melvin Wearing would not comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy about not commenting on pending litigation.
The city's corporation counsel, Thomas Ude Jr., said Van de Velde's claims would not stand up in court.
"Members of the New Haven police department had one goal - that was to solve the crime, not to attack any one person," Ude said.
Police and prosecutors have said that Van de Velde remains one of several suspects.
They have maintained that position, despite newly disclosed forensic evidence that showed male DNA found under Jovin's fingernails was not Van de Velde's.
The DNA has not been identified, and until it is, no suspect can be ruled out simply because his DNA does not match, they said.
The lawsuit claims that all evidence "overwhelmingly points to his innocence."
Van de Velde, who was Jovin's thesis adviser, has consistently maintained his innocence. No one has been charged in Jovin's death.
Jovin, 21, was a senior political science major whose parents live in Germany.
She was found stabbed to death in a wealthy New Haven neighborhood near the Yale campus three years ago this week.
Friday marked three years to the day that police first interviewed Van de Velde about the murder. The lawsuit complies with a three-year federal statute of limitations for claims of civil rights violations.
The lawsuit claims that extensive publicity around Jovin's death motivated police to leak Van de Velde's name as a suspect.
"The defendants attempted to manipulate the media coverage of the Jovin murder investigation to increase the pressure on the plaintiff, and further the public perception that he was guilty of murdering Ms. Jovin," the lawsuit states.
On Dec. 8, 1999, a day after police first spoke to Van de Velde, a story in the New Haven Register quoted Wearing as saying that Jovin likely knew her killer.
The story quoted Van de Velde as saying Jovin's death was a "great tragedy," but it did not name him as a suspect. He also said she had dropped off a draft thesis to him just hours before her death.
Police interrogated Van de Velde for four hours on Dec. 8. The next day, the Register reported, citing unidentified police and Yale sources, a male educator at Yale was a suspect in the case.
The story also did not name Van de Velde, but his name and face were broadcast that day after a reporter from WTNH-TV interviewed him on the way to a dental appointment.
The lawsuit claims the Register articles, read in context, effectively identified Van de Velde as the suspect.
He publicly admitted in television and newspaper interviews Dec. 9 that he had been questioned in Jovin's death, but he denied any wrongdoing.
"Many people have been questioned by police, but they did not feel the need to go to the press for interviews," Ude noted in defense of the police department.
Yale canceled his classes for the following semester, and Quinnipiac University dismissed him from a master's degree program in broadcast journalism.
Van de Velde has sued Quinnipiac for libel over the dismissal. Grudberg said his client is "retaining all of our options against Yale."
Quinnipiac has declined to comment. Yale said it canceled the classes because Van de Velde's presence in the classroom would have been distracting.
ctnow.com
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Suspect in Yale student killing sues New Haven police
December 7, 2001
Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A suspect in the killing of Yale student Suzanne Jovin sued the police department Friday, alleging police violated his civil rights and destroyed his life by naming him a suspect.
James Van de Velde, 41, said the police department's actions have damaged his reputation, his career and his health and have spread negative publicity about him around the world.
"Defendants' conduct has destroyed the life plaintiff enjoyed before December 1998," the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court states.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
Chief Melvin Wearing would not comment on the lawsuit.
"It's usually the department's policy not to comment on pending litigation," said police spokeswoman Judith Mongillo.
Police and prosecutors have said that Van de Velde remains one of several suspects.
The lawsuit, however, claims that all evidence "overwhelmingly points to his innocence."
Van de Velde, who was Jovin's thesis adviser, has consistently maintained his innocence. No one has been charged in Jovin's death.
Jovin, 21, was a senior political science major whose parents live in Germany.
She was found stabbed to death in a wealthy New Haven neighborhood near the Yale campus three years ago this week.
Friday was the statutory deadline for Van de Velde to bring a lawsuit against the police department.
ctnow.com
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Suspect in Yale Student Killing Sues New Haven Police
(New Haven-AP) The only named suspect in the killing of Yale stduent Suzanne Jovin is suing the New Haven police.
James Van de Velde claims the police violated his civil rights by naming him as a suspect.
Van de Velde says the police department's actions have destoyed his life by damaging his reputation and career.
The lawsuit, filed today in New Haven federal court, seeks unspecified damages.
Van de Velde, who was Jovin's thesis advisor, has constistently maintained his innocence. No one has been charged in Jovin's death.
She was found stabbed to death in a wealthy New Haven neighborhood three years ago this week.
New Haven police are declining to comment, citing a policy against discussing pending litigation.
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
wfsb.com
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Suspect in Yale student killing sues New Haven police
(New Haven-WTNH, Dec. 7, 2001 6:00 PM ) _ Three years after the murder of a Yale University student in a posh New Haven neighborhood, James Van de Velde, the only man ever named as a suspect but never charged, has decided to sue police.
News Channel 8's Andrea Stassou reports: video.wtnh.com
James Van de Velde lost his job at Yale - - and claims he's now being forced to work in a position beneath his qualifications.
Exactly three years and three days after Jovin's death, Van de Velde has filed a civil lawsuit against the chief of police and three retired detectives.
He claims their conduct has ruined his life forever.
"They're talking to me because they don't have any leads," says Van de Velde.
Those words from James Van de Velde just days after Yale Student Suzanne Jovin was murdered.
Jovin was stabbed 17 times in the neck and head, so brutally killed that police suspected a crime of passion.
They honed in on Jovin's senior thesis advisor, the only suspect named as the case dragged on for three years.
"They made a terrible rush to judgement, a terrible mistake. They put his name out in public eye alone, where he's been for 3 years, and they're unable to admit that mistake," says David Grudberg, Van de Velde's attorney.
Van de Velde is now suing New Haven Police Chief Melvin Wearing as well as three retired detectives; Brian Sullivan, Thomas Trocchio, and Edward Kendall.
Van de Velde charges that police violated his civil rights by naming him as a suspect, resulting in enormous negative publicity locally, nationally and worldwide.
The lawsuit blames police conduct for damaging Van de Velde's reputation, job status, present and future career, health and well-being.
"There is zero evidence connecting Jim Van de Velde to this crime," says Grudberg.
Test results proved that DNA evidence taken from under Jovin's fingernails does not match Van de Velde's DNA.
Still, police have said they cannot eliminate him as a suspect.
In a written statement, Van de Velde told News Channel 8,"New Haven will long be known as the city where police wantonly point fingers at innocent people to feign competence and progress in a high profile investigation. The Jovin investigation to date disgraces the good name of honest and competent police officers in the City of New Haven and nationwide."
Chief Wearing declined comment. We spoke with the corporation counsel for the City of New Haven. They told us the defendants deny violating anyone's civil rights.
They went on to say the police officers named had one goal in mind, to solve the crime.
By the way, Captain Brian Sullivan and sergeant Edward Kendall gained publicly in another murder case. They were accused of mishandling evidence in the case of Matt Cusick, both claimed they were innocent of any wrong-doing.
Van de Velde currently lives in Washington D.C. and works in an administrative position for the defense department.
Apparently he keeps in touch with several friends at Yale. Some of those friends have launched their own investigation into the murder.
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