Another set of pre-trial motions submitted to Judge Dewey by the Perez defense team were once again denied.
Channel 8's Mark Davis was following today's proceedings in Hartford Superior Court. To view his story, click here.
Davis characterized the actions of Perez's attorney Hubert Santos as "begging" for help from Judge Dewey. They had a year to ask for help and I'm not sure why these motions waited to the last minute. What changed from the day of the first arrest when Santos proclaimed at the arraignment of Perez that they were ready to go to trial at 2:00PM that same afternoon.
The bulk of the arguments, as I understand them, is the volume of documents and evidence against Perez that the State intends to potentially use. Santos claims the documents were "dumped" on them and over 12,000 e-mails from just one person alone may be used. I'm sure there will be some good reading in there.
I have a simple suggestion for Attorney Santos. If your client is being honest with you, and I know we are talking about Eddie Perez so take a moment to explain honesty to him and then ask him a couple times if he understands what honesty means, just to be sure he gets the concept.
Once you are sure he gets it, watch his body language. He typically starts shuffling his feet and becomes very animated when he is lying. If you're not sure what I mean, pull up some footage of his press conferences. If he is standing at the podium, standing still, hands on the edge of the podium and speaking, he might be telling the truth. Then look at another footage, the City Hall "rally" after his second arrest might be a good one.
He is almost dancing, it looks like he was standing on a hornets nest, that's the body language I'm talking about when he's lying, oh yeah, allegedly.
Ok, so once you get that act down, you might ask him honestly what he has done. Hopefully he will lay it all out for you. You might have to re-enforce that "honesty" lesson periodically. Explain to him that by knowing what he has done it will make it easier for you to identify which of those 12,000 e-mails will be important. Explain to him that it doesn't look good for a defense attorney in front of a jury when the State launches that smoking gun during trial.
Hopefully this helps Hubie, I know you have your hands full. I think most people also realize you are doing what defense attorneys do, even when you have a stinker of a case. I would normally wish you good luck, but in all honesty I hope you lose, Hartford's future depends on it.
P.S. Hubie, If you need any help going through the boxes of evidence, I'm available to help.
20 to 25 witnesses and 12,000 emails from one person alone??? Wow, Willie Nunez can sure type a lot of emails.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine who else will be implicated as all this starts to unravel in public. It's just like Perez to make Hartford look even worse in a desperate effort to keep his job. He clearly puts himself way before the people he was elected to serve.
Eddie has told Pedro and others that if he is convicted, he will stay as Mayor until his appeal is decided.This appears to be in contravention of the city charter.
ReplyDeleteWhat??? If he's convicted he goes to jail and has to appeal from there. How is he going to run the city from jail?
ReplyDeleteCome on, this has to be a bogus post, but on second thought Eddie has no sense of dignity or shame so maybe he honestly thinks this.
If this ridiculous scenario ever happened city council would be forced to remove him. If they couldn't get the voted needed the state would do it for them. No way in hell would CT allow it's capitol Mayor to "govern" from jail.
Best laugh I had all day.
Jeff...no...if he is convicted his lawyer will no doubt ask for a "stay" pending the appeal...and the Judge might grant it.That would leave Eddie out of jail and still Mayor,perhaps,pending the decision on the appeal.No Jeff..my prior post is not a bogus post...
ReplyDeleteJeff the Charter has no clear removal procedure for a Mayor convicted of a crime but it does have a procedure if the mayor is "incapacitated" and even if a conviction could be seen as "incapacitated,the Council would need 7 votes under the Charter to actually remove him.I suspect that Rjo,Cal,Veronica and Luis would never vote to remove Eddie under any circumstances.
Jeff...I have been as vocal as anyone for Eddie to step down and I am not one of the Mayor's puppets, so please dont take this as if I am covering for him.
ReplyDeleteIf the Attorney successfully argues for a stay and if the Council cannot successfully remove him,then he stays as Mayor while his appeal is going forward ( and qualifies for his pension?)
There is no right or authority of " the state" to remove him if a Judge grants a stay and if the Council cannot remove him.
The only possible rememdy is that later on...for some reason perhaps the state prosecutors can move to vacate the stay,but they need a reason to vacate the stay that squarely falls within the state criminal/constitutional law to do so.
I follow you guys.
ReplyDeleteI would be surprised if a stay was granted, but time will tell.
I'm also surprised he would still be eligible for his pension. How wonderful for Hartford tax payers.
When I said the state would step in that was under the scenario he tried to run Hartford from jail not the scenario you two presented with him receiving a stay.
Whatever happens this is going to be very entertaining to follow. I wonder if the judge is allow a media camera in the court room.
I confirmed it with the media. They are going to be allowed in the court room to broadcast the entire trial. Not sure what channel or how much will air and where but the entire trial will be recorded.
ReplyDeleteNot at all surprised -- if he can stall long enough, he can get his pension. As long as the final verdict on the appeal doesn't come down until 2012 when his term is done, he would still qualify for it, I believe. That's what this is all about.
ReplyDeleteGranted him a stay if he's found guilty not only would possibly lead to him getting his pension but more damaging it would allow him to remain in the very office where he committed the crimes. I'm not sure that's something the judge would allow.
ReplyDeleteAt what point would the state (not judicial) step in to do oversight, and wouldn't that process remove Eddie from office regardless of the "stay" status???
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard anything about the state coming in to take over Hartford, and even if they did, it would not involve the removal of an elected official from office. The state has no money or resources to run Hartford either. At best, such a takeover would severely limit Eddie's ability to do anything with the finances of the city, but he would not stop being Mayor as a result.
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