Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (877)	1/16/2001 10:43:33 PM
From: ecommerceman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1397

this is certainly one of the most unusual threads i've seen at SI; I do hope, though, that they find the killer. stuff like this is truly awful... good luck in your quest.

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (877)	4/19/2001 1:16:10 PM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1397

Re: 4/19/01 - NH Register: Cop in tampering case fights back, sues Cop in tampering case fights back, sues Christa Lee Rock, Register Staff April 19, 2001 NEW HAVEN — A second police detective is suing top officials for allegedly "scapegoating" him in the police department’s evidence tampering scandal. Detective Edwin Rodriguez is one of three police officers formally reprimanded in January for failing to report illegal activity to supervisors in the investigation of the 1996 murder of Phillip Cusick. The scandal over allegedly withheld evidence led to a grand jury investigation that ended the careers of top detectives Capt. Brian Sullivan and Sgt. Edward Kendall. But the three reprimanded detectives said they did the right thing by blowing the whistle on the scandal – and are fighting back in court. Rodriguez filed his suit in federal court this week. Fellow detective Stephen Coppola landed a similar complaint in state court last week. Sgt. Direk Rodgers is "exploring his options" for suing the city, his attorney said this week. In his federal case, Rodriguez accuses Police Chief Melvin H. Wearing, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and five others of violating his constitutional right to due process by reprimanding him for withholding evidence – a violation of state laws – even though he says he committed no crime. His suit also claims police officials singled him out for abuse by refusing to follow established guidelines for disciplining officers. "He certainly has been accused of a crime, and that’s a very serious thing to happen if you’re a police officer," said one of his attorneys, Jake Donovan of Cromwell. "If your integrity has been impugned, your value as a witness is worthless." Rodriguez says in the suit that, like Coppola, he was targeted for reprimand because they expressed concerns to an assistant state’s attorney after the chief detective, Capt. Brian Sullivan, allegedly closed the Cusick investigation "per order of the chief." They say they should have been exempt from the reprimand under state whistleblower laws that protect employees when they report unethical practices. Sullivan is currently facing felony charges of withholding evidence. The city’s corporation counsel said Wearing had been "sensitive to the dilemma" Rodriguez and Coppola faced, but said the detectives should have been able to bring their questions to Wearing. "Their conduct in this instance did not measure up to what (Wearing) expected," said Chief Corporation Counsel Thomas W. Ude Jr. "It’s unfortunate that they’re choosing to make this incident and the aftermath of it into far more than it needed to be." The suit also accuses Detective Keith Wortz of making false statements during an internal affairs investigation into the evidence tampering, and charges Capt. Bryan Kearney and Lt. John Minardi of ratifying "misleading" information in their internal affairs report. The suit also rails at DeStefano, Chief Administrative Officer James Horan and former Corporation Counsel Thayer Baldwin for taking the reins of the internal affairs investigation and wrongfully concluding that Rodriguez had withheld a witness’ statement from North Haven police. Neither Baldwin, now a Superior Court judge; nor Wearing or a police spokeswoman returned requests for comment. Several other policemen named in the suit declined to remark on the case. Wearing has denied closing the inquiry into the death of Cusick, who apparently was shot in Fair Haven before his body was dumped near his North Haven home. No arrests have been made in his murder. "This guy is the good cop – he and his partner came across evidence and reported it," Donovan said of Rodriguez. "But he’s been abused at the hands of the police department, city hall and the press." ©New Haven Register 2001 zwire.com