Re: 9/19/09 - New Haven Register: Van de Velde: Cops learned from mistakes
Van de Velde: Cops learned from mistakes
Published: Saturday, September 19, 2009
By Randall Beach, Register Staff
NEW HAVEN — James Van de Velde has seen this movie before. Watching the story of the terrible slaying of Yale University graduate student Annie Le unfold in his former city and at his former university, the only person ever named in a “pool of suspects” for the killing of Yale undergraduate Suzanne Jovin says he’s glad investigators have learned to be more careful about publicly pointing fingers.
Van de Velde, who lost his Yale lecturer job at that time but was never charged in Jovin’s death, has maintained his innocence since her slaying in the East Rock neighborhood 11 years ago.
Her killer has not been found.
But in an e-mail message to the Register from his home in suburban Washington, D.C., Van de Velde said: “By being so extraordinarily circumspect regarding suspects and the progress of the case, both Yale President (Richard C.) Levin and the current New Haven police chief (James Lewis) were admitting that calling me and only me a suspect in the 1998 Jovin crime was a terrible mistake, illegal ... and only served the interests of the murderer.”
Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said he had no comment on Van de Velde’s statement.
Levin recently told the Yale Daily News, “We did learn some lessons” from the Jovin investigation. When the Register asked Conroy to explain what those lessons are, Conroy said he was unable to reach Levin Friday.
In a message to the Yale community Thursday, Levin announced that Raymond J. Clark III had been arrested in connection with Le’s death. Levin added that, although the campus is “relieved and encouraged,” by this development, “we must resist the temptation to rush to judgment until a full and fair prosecution of this case brings a just resolution.”
Lewis, who was not police chief when Jovin was killed, also was careful not to reveal Clark was being investigated until police obtained a search warrant Tuesday, and took Clark into custody to gather DNA evidence. Clark was not charged with murder until Thursday morning.
Until Clark’s arrest, police declined to call him a suspect, even after the search warrant was served. Instead, he was referred to as “a person of interest.”
Van de Velde said he believes the phrase “person of interest” was used this time “to try to lessen the damage to one’s reputation when one is labeled a ‘suspect.’”
He added, “So the use of the term ‘person of interest’ is another example of how the city is admitting that it wrongly damaged me. And unlike in 1998-99, Yale University did not brand its employee with the term either.”
Asked at what point the media should have revealed Clark’s name, Van de Velde said this shouldn’t have been done until he was arrested. The Register withheld Clark’s identity last Monday, merely referring to a “Yale lab technician” but first used Clark’s name on its Web site Tuesday, a few hours before the search warrant was issued.
The Register first used Van de Velde’s name six days after Jovin’s death. The day before, the Register had reported a “Yale teacher” has been “grilled” by police, but that story did not name him. The second story on Dec. 10 noted Van de Velde had granted interviews to Connecticut TV stations, which used his name.
One month later, Yale officials announced they had canceled Van de Velde’s spring courses, saying his presence in the classroom would be too distracting for students. Yale issued a statement at that time saying the university presumed he was innocent of any wrongdoing but added, “The New Haven Police Department has informed us, however, that he is in a pool of suspects in the murder.”
In his e-mail message, Van de Velde said he was “horrified” when he heard an erroneous media report that an unnamed Yale professor had been questioned in the Le murder case.
“I was furious at the media that ran such an irresponsible story,” Van de Velde said. “Imagine if no one was arrested for the Le murder and this professor was left to explain to accusing media how he did not do something heinous.”
Van de Velde also noted he has long called for forensic tests to be performed that “could help solve the crime,” including testing a palm print found on the soda bottle at the crime scene.
Lt. John Mannion, who heads the team investigating Jovin’s death, recently told the Yale Daily News the bottle has not been submitted to the state lab for testing and that other items the investigators have sent to the lab are still awaiting testing.
Jovin’s parents, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Donna Jovin on Sept. 14 asked Gov. M. Jodi Rell to provide more “funds and expertise” to “rectify the shortcomings” of the lab.
Mannion told the Register Friday he has been ordered by State’s Attorney Michael Dearington and Assistant State’s Attorney James Clark, who head the Jovin investigation, not to speak with the media anymore. Dearington could not be reached for comment.
Van de Velde said Levin should ask that the forensic tests be outsourced and that Yale should pay for it. Conroy declined to comment on that idea.
Randall Beach can be reached at rbeach@nhregister.com or 789-5766.
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