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Pastimes : Murder Mystery: Who Killed Yale Student Suzanne Jovin? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (774)	5/26/2000 4:12:00 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1397

Re: 7/29/99 - Ex-New Haven cop Vincent Raucci returns to a New Haven courtroom - to face arriagnment on larceny and domestic violence charges. Re-Laced on Bond Ex-New Haven cop Vincent Raucci returns to a New Haven courtroom - to face arriagnment on larceny and domestic violence charges. By Paul Bass Published 07/29/99 Monday morning felt just like old times in a New Haven courtroom: Vinny Raucci was back. The bail bondsman walked by with a warm "Hey, Vinny!" Courthouse employees waved. Some of his former New Haven police colleagues stopped into the courtroom to see him. Raucci wore a Three Dog Night haircut--short in front and the sides, long in back. He held a crumpled Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt, the kind you sometimes see undercover detectives wear. But Raucci did look different in one way: He had no shoelaces on his boots. Neither did the other men and women in the three rows of seats to the left of Superior Court Judge Gary White's bench. This time, Raucci, a decorated 16-year veteran of New Haven's police force, was seated among the alleged crooks, all prohibited from wearing shoelaces. They shuffle to face the judge when they hear their names called for arraignment. Raucci returned to New Haven courtesy of the government. FBI agents arrested him in New Mexico two weeks ago, after a four-hour stand-off. Raucci--pushed out of the city police department after an internal investigation into his connection to the local cocaine trade--had lived in New Mexico as a fugitive from larceny and domestic violence charges. He had also become a central figure in an FBI investigation into a double murder; FBI agents suspected Raucci of setting up two drug dealers on murder charges because of an outstanding debt. (See "The Cop & The Killer," on the Web at .) You'd think Raucci's luck had run out, especially since he had to appear Monday before Judge White, who has a reputation for tolerating few excuses or showing little sympathy for defendants. Yet no one mentioned the stand-off with the FBI at Raucci's arraignment. Nor did much discussion ensue about a previous FBI attempt to arrest Raucci a month ago in New Mexico. Authorities said Raucci slipped out the back door when they arrived; Raucci told the Advocate last week that he had been planting a cactus garden in the backyard, unaware the feds were looking for him. Instead, Judge White was persuaded that Raucci, back by force after two years on the lam, didn't present much of a risk of flight. White kept Raucci's bond low enough--$50,000--that he'd be out on the street, a free man, within the hour. Attorney Rick Silverstein did the persuading. Monday morning was a warm homecoming in court for Silverstein, too. He, too, had just returned from the Southwest, specifically The Meadows detox center in Wickenberg, Ariz. Silverstein agreed to go there and accept a two-month suspension from practicing law after police charged him with buying crack and tampering with evidence. That case is pending in Waterbury. "I fell off the wagon. Now I'm clean again," Silverstein said Monday. "I'm kind of glad I was arrested. It caused me to assess what I had to do." Silverstein agreed to represent Raucci, whom he describes as an old friend, for free. It was Silverstein's first case back in the spotlight. He argued forcefully that Raucci was rooted here, that his leaving for New Mexico was a well-intentioned move to a new home, that Raucci intended to comply there with terms of his court-ordered accelerated rehabilitation on the domestic violence charges. It helped that the prosecutor asked for only $75,000 bond. In fact, Silverstein argued that the court dealt too harshly with Raucci. Just that morning, Silverstein claimed, he had a judge waive bond on two clients who'd failed to appear in court but had complied with the terms of their accelerated rehab. Judge White did order electronic surveillance and an overnight curfew for Raucci, over Silverstein's objections. White set Raucci's next court appearance for Aug. 9. Within a half hour of convincing Judge White to go easy, Silverstein was ushering Raucci from detention back to the bail bondsman, then out the door and past TV cameras to freedom. Raucci's boots had their laces back in. * E-mail: pbass@newhavenadvocate.com newmassmedia.com