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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 (1067)	2/21/2002 12:15:03 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1397

Re: 2/19/02 - New Haven Register: FOIC slams cop in Jovin case West Metro FOIC slams cop in Jovin case Christopher Hoffman, Register Staff February 19, 2002 HARTFORD — The New Haven state's attorney on Monday defended New Haven police Lt. Bryan Norwood Monday against charges that he allegedly testified inaccurately during a state Freedom of Information Commission hearing last year on the Suzanne Jovin murder file. State's Attorney Michael Dearington said Norwood, head of the city's detectives, has a unblemished record as police officer and called him "a man of integrity" who is being unfairly portrayed. "I have no doubt that he testified truthfully, and his reputation and honesty are above reproach," Dearington said. Dearington, however, declined to address alleged contradictions between Norwood's testimony and a letter in the file. Those contradictions led state FOI Commissioner Dennis O'Connor, the hearing officer in the case, to conclude that Norwood's testimony was "not credible." O'Connor charged last week that Norwood was "not accurate" when he testified last April that he had no knowledge of private investigator Andrew Rosenzweig ever being shown the city's files. A letter in the file written by Norwood's superior, however, "clearly contradicts" his testimony, O'Connor wrote in a decision that ordered release of large portions of the 4,500-page file. In the letter, an unidentified top ranking city police official tells the New York City police that private investigators have asked to review the file and have been given full cooperation, O'Connor said during an FOIC meeting last week. The New Haven police official goes on to request assistance based on a suggestion from the investigator — a suggestion the investigator could not have made without reading the file, O'Connor said. Rosenzweig is a retired New York City police detective who was hired by Yale University to investigate the unsolved homicide. Jovin, a Yale student, was stabbed to death on Dec. 4, 1998. Rosenzweig, who runs a mystery bookstore in Rhode Island, didn't return a call Monday seeking comment. Asked Monday if Rosenzweig was ever granted access to the file, Dearington declined comment. "I'm not going to get into that," Dearington said. "All I'm going to get into is Bryan Norwood. Based on my familiarity with the case, I have no doubt that Bryan was testifying truthfully." An attorney for a newspaper, which filed a complaint seeking the file, pressed Norwood during the April 16, 2001 hearing about whether the city granted Rosenzweig access to the file. Because Rosenzweig is a private citizen, an admission that he examined the documents would have strengthened the paper's argument for release. FOI Managing Director Colleen M. Murphy said Monday the commission stood by O'Connor's conclusions. She declined further comment because of concerns about inadvertently revealing the contents of the file, the release of which the city and an attorney for Jovin's sister Ellen say they will contest in the courts. "Our discomfort with commenting any further is due to the fact that we want to maintain the integrity of the records," Murphy said. Murphy said the commission hasn't yet considered whether Norwood's alleged inaccuracy rises to the level of perjury and should be referred to the state's attorney. "That hasn't been a subject of discussions at all," she said. "I suppose it could, but at this point it hasn't entered anyone's mind." New Haven Police Chief Melvin Wearing said last week he had full faith in Norwood's integrity and appeared to say there would be no internal investigation into his testimony. Dearington declined to address criticisms that O'Connor made of the city's handling of the case. The city failed to prove why the file shouldn't be released, relying instead on a broad claim of exemption, O'Connor said. As a result, the commission had no choice but to order release of large sections of the file, he said. In spite of the commission's decision, it's unlikely the documents will become public any time soon. Appeals by the city and Ellen Jovin are likely to drag on for months, even years. In addition to the newspaper, Jeffrey Mitchell, a friend of the only named suspect in the case, James Van de Velde, also filed a complaint seeking the file. Van de Velde, one of Jovin's instructors at Yale, has repeatedly denied killing her and is suing the New Haven police for naming him a suspect. ©New Haven Register 2002 newhavenregister.com