Date: Fri 17-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Judge-Lavery-police

Full Text:

with photo: Judge Says Murder Cases Are Not Always The Most Complicated

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The jury system is the cornerstone of the criminal justice system in

determining guilt or innocence in criminal trials, Connecticut Appellate Court

Judge William J. Lavery explained.

Judge Lavery spoke Tuesday night to graduates of the third session of Citizens

Police Academy, a ten-week program conducted by the police department to

inform residents about the rudiments of law enforcement and the criminal

justice system.

Judge Lavery, a jurist on the nine-member Connecticut Appellate Court in

Hartford, formerly served as a Superior Court judge in Waterbury. The Fordham

University Law School graduate is a former Newtown town attorney.

According to Judge Lavery, there are matters more difficult than murder cases

to deal with while sitting on the bench.

"For a judge, the hardest job is not trying a murder case... In juvenile

court, you're dealing with the whole panoply of human ills and problems," he

noted.

In recent years, juvenile delinquency has grown to be a more and more violent

phenomenon in American society, he said. Juvenile cases involve the horrors of

abuse, abandonment, beatings, neglect and sexual abuse, he added.

The toughest work that a judge does involves intervening in such cases of

human tragedy to correct social problems, he said. Police officers often are

the first social agents coming into contact with the victims, he noted.

"The streets are rough," Judge Lavery said.

While it's assumed that the streets in ghettos and barrios are rough, the

thoroughfare that runs past the Connecticut Appellate Court, known as

Washington Street, has become a quite rough place in recent years, according

to the judge.

Washington Street has become a "shooting gallery" where rival gang members

sometimes prowl with the intent of shooting opposing gang members on their way

in and out of various court buildings, he said.

The appellate court now has full-time state police protection. State courts

now regularly use metal detectors to forestall incidents with weapons.

American society has changed during the past 30 years, becoming much more

violence-prone, according to Judge Lavery.

"The whole society from the 1960s to now is quite different," he said.

Asked by an audience member for his impressions of the recent double-murder

trial of former football star O.J. Simpson, Judge Lavery observed "That wasn't

a prime example of American justice."

Mr Simpson's trial would have been a better one had it not been broadcast on

television, he said. "A murder case should never be entertainment. Someone's

dead. And someone's accused of doing it."

The judge who presided over the Simpson trial had the last word on whether it

would be broadcast, he noted. "Any type of celeberity case is not a teaching

tool. It's entertainment," Judge Lavery said.

Issues that crop up during such televised trials, such as camera positioning

and where various reporters will sit, assume too much significance in the

context of a murder trial, he said.

The criminal jury system allows a panel of unbiased observers to decide

whether a defendant who has been charged is guilty. The defendant has the

choice of whether his trial will be heard by a jury or a judge. Murder trails

typically take about two to four weeks.

When a defendant is found guilty, he has certain appeal rights in the state,

the judge explained.

Judge Lavery said "99.9 percent of all criminal cases in which people are

convicted are appealed."

When cases are appealed, the state's appellate court unit carefully reviews

those appeals, he noted. The nine-member appellate court usually considers

appeals while sitting in groups of three judges. After the judges' opinions

and dissenting opinions are prepared, they are submitted for review and a

decision by the full panel.

Those defendants whose appeals fail may then submit their cases to the

Connecticut Supreme Court for review. That court, which is the final arbiter

of Connecticut law, agrees to review about 25 percent of the cases submitted

to it.

Connecticut Supreme Court judges typically are very critical and probing when

when hearing oral arguments from the defense lawyers and prosecutors who

appear before them, Judge Lavery said.

The Connecticut Supreme Court has seven members. By comparison, there are 165

trial judges in the state judicial system.

"There's a million people in jail in the United States...Hopefully it will

improve," the judge said.

Most of the people who attended the third session of Citizens Police Academy

are Newtown residents. Those who completed the course are: Linda Bates, Jared

Bradley, Katherine Cole, Nancy Constant, Rudy Edwards, Cindy Fogliano,

Christopher Fowler, Lynn Fowler, Gail Halapin, Anita McCann, William Meyer,

Edward Naylor, Jennifer Naylor, John Pratt, Lori Lyn Saputo, Sandra Stockwell,

Shirley Stott, Denise Vadas, Bill Vayan, Neil Werner, William Werner, Jonathan

Williams, and Sheldon Wong.