Former MA state senator admits to groping women, will serve 3 months jail, 5 years probation

(Original Post 6-6-08)
Senator is admitted to psych hospital Marzilli is seeking treatment after arrest

By Steve LeBlanc THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON— A state senator arrested this week on charges of attempting to grope one woman and making lewd comments to a second was admitted to a psychiatric hospital yesterday. State Sen. James J. Marzilli entered the hospital hours after saying he would not seek re-election in the fall. The decision came a day after he was arraigned in Lowell District Court on multiple charges related to the arrest. Marzilli’s lawyer confirmed that he was seeking treatment.
“Senator Marzilli was admitted into a local hospital for treatment for an undisclosed illness this afternoon,” said Marzilli’s lawyer, Terrence Kennedy. A source close to Marzilli said on condition of anonymity that Marzilli was seeking treatment at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Belmont.

Marzilli, 50, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he tried to grab a woman sexually at a park in Lowell, then fled police, and to charges he made lewd remarks to another woman. Charges against him include disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault and battery and obstruction of justice. Marzilli is free on bail and due back in court July 3.

A spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney’s office said investigators were looking into other incidents possibly involving Marzilli, including one last year in Arlington and another in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood two years ago. Investigators also were looking into whether Marzilli was involved in other incidents in Lowell before his arrest.

Last month, Middlesex District Attorney Gerald T. Leone Jr. declined to charge Marzilli after a woman claimed he had touched her inappropriately in April, saying there was insufficient evidence.

Marzilli was arrested Tuesday after a woman told police he approached her while she was sitting on a park bench and tried to grab her crotch. A second woman called authorities after seeing media coverage of Marzilli’s arrest and said Marzilli made lewd comments to her. Kennedy said his client “totally denies” the charges.

(Update 2-23-11) Marzilli was sentenced to three months in jail and probation by Judge Paul Chernoff at Lowell Superior Court yesterday. Marzilli will serve his sentence at the Billerica House of Correction. For the first year of his probation, Marzilli will serve his first year under GPS monitoring and must do 200 hours of community service. A charge of attempted indecent assault and battery was stayed for a year, meaning that if the GPS monitoring goes without any hitches, Marzilli won't have to register as a sex offender.

In the city [of Lowell, MA]on June 3, 2008, for a function at Federal Fabrics-Fibers, Marzilli approached the women both on foot and in a car over the course of four hours, making lewd remarks about their bodies. They, in return, called him a pervert and told him to spend $20 on a hooker.

Middlesex District Attorney Elizabeth Dunigan said that some of the victims are afraid to go to Lowell, MA and that “At the time of his arrest, he was focused on himself, his career, his future. Maybe in time it can be a little bit about what these women lost on the streets of Lowell."

NY state legislator convicted of misdemeanor assault of girlfriend - sentenced to 3 years probation, expelled from NY Senate

(Original Post 10-17-09)
A prominent New York politician escaped a felony conviction Thursday, October 15 for beating his girlfriend, 30 year old Karla Girardo. However, it seems like 42 year old New York State Senator Hiram Monserratte won't be entirely in the clear. There are already calls for the Democratic Senator representing the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens to be ousted. Felony convictions automatically lead to dismissal from the New York lesiglature, but not misdemeanors.

Addressing a crowded and tense courtroom, Erlbaum said that Monserrate was guilty only of shoving around Giraldo - an attack captured on tape and played in court.

"Only two people" know for sure what happened inside Monserrate's apartment on Dec. 19, 2008, when Giraldo's face was cut, the judge said.

Erlbaum said he could not say for sure if Giraldo was lying, as prosecutors contended. "Can one know she's not being forgiving or that she's not being compassionate?" he said. "One can't know that." Erlbaum concluded, "Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is lacking."

"Yes!" a Monserrate supporter yelled after Monserrate skated on the most serious charges.

Those charges come from an incident in which the state senator from Queens allegedly pushed around Giraldo and cut her face up with a piece of broken glass. The misdemeanor assault charges the politician was found guilty on stemmed from a scuffle in front of security cameras. Queens DA Richard Brown had no problems with the conviction on lesser charges, stating that  the verdict (and surveillance camera) showed that "the defendant physically abused his victim."

Though the misdemeanor conviction calls for a sentence of up to a year in jail, Monserrate will probably get probation, according to his attorney Joe Tacopina. "On a reckless misdemeanor, first offense, he won't go to jail," Tacopina said.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle, as well as leaders of the New York chapter of NOW, are demanding Montserrate's resignation, even though the resignation could cost NY Democrats there slim majority in the NY Senate.

According to state senator Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn), the conviction meant that "ouster is an option . . . it should be seriously considered. It's an assault against a woman. I would hope he would just step aside and move on, but I know better. He ain't going anywhere."

"I was praying that [expletive deleted] would get convicted and he would be gone," said an anonymous Democratic politician. A second senator stated that "a lot of people want to oust him. As the days go by, I think most people will (agree) that we should get rid of the guy. This is not a guy who most of his colleagues want to see back."

Marcia Pappas, president of New York NOW, said "The man is violent. If the Democratic leadership took some kind of action it would certainly send a strong message to women around the state that they are serious about protecting women."

New York Daily News columnist Joanna Molloy has her own take on this incident.

Amazingly, according to Tacopina, "She loves him, as she testified in court. As he said yesterday, he loves her...And they're looking to get back together and resume their marriage...uh, relationship."

To which GDNY (Good Day New York) anchor Rosanna Scotto said, "Will they get married?" and Tacopina replied, "Maybe I said marriage, maybe I let the cat out of the bag, but that's where it's heading."

A few of Monserrate's constituents were also taken aback by the verdict. One woman said, "How do you accidentally smack her with a bottle? I think he did it and she’s afraid. He should be in jail," while a man who previously voted for Monserrate but won't do so again told the NY Times, "He’s a lucky man. Any normal person would be locked up for years. Domestic violence. Guaranteed. You don’t hit a woman. You love a woman."

Monseratte faces up to a year in jail at his sentencing December 4.

(Update 12-5-09) Monserrate was sentenced to 3 years probation, a $1000 fine, 250 hours of community service, and domestic violence counseling for the attach on Giraldo yesterday. He said before Judge Erlbaum that "I am here because of my own actions . . . I am so sorry for the harm Karla Giraldo endured and suffered...It's very difficult, your honor, not to be with her. She deserves happiness, nothing but good."

Giraldo said in Spanish that  "I don't need an order of protection. I want to be with him. I want to continue my normal life," Giraldo, 30, told the judge in Spanish. "Before this we had plans. We would like to get married."

Judge Erlbaum, to his credit, recognized that Giraldo was still under the thrall of her abuser, so he continued the protection order barring Monserrate from seeing her. "I am loath to say you can't be together. But a promise alone that Mr. Monserrate will respect her autonomy is a far cry from remedying the green-eyed monster of jealousy. I hope the time will come that Karla Giraldo will have the self-respect to stop acting like a slave."

Giraldo's lawyer hopes that the protection order is lifted. The New York Senate's Special Committee of Inquiry will decide whether to expel him later this month.

(Update 2-11-10) On Tuesday night, Monserrate was expelled from the New York State Senate by a 53-8 vote. This was the first expulsion from the NY Senate since 1861. All 30 Republicans and 23 Democrats voted for expulsion, with Governor David Patterson announcing a special election for March 16.

Monserrate said that his expulsion was unwarranted because others expelled from the New York Senate committed other, more serious violations.

   Make no mistake about it, this is an effort by some in this body to publicly demonstrate that it is going to expiate all of its sins, and Hiram Monserrate is the perfect scapegoat for your absolution...[I] have also seen a long list of others who were convicted or plead to misdemeanors; many negotiated these pleas to avoid felony convictions. And in all that time no one stood up to say, ‘enough’s enough,’ even when the behavior became common knowledge .

   Yet with all of this history of corrupt and suspect behavior, no senator has ever been forced to face the prospect of expulsion until now...Let me remind everyone that a new election cycle is right around the corner,” he said “If my sins are of such magnitude that the voters of the 13th Senatorial District feel that they can no longer support my continued service-then so be it. It should be up to them to expel me, if they should so decide, but not up to this body.”

Major state newspapers applauded the decision. So did the president of New York NOW, Marcia Pappas, who said, "Anything less than expulsion was not acceptable. Any form of violence against women is not acceptable."

The other New York sex scandal

(Originally Posted 3-13-08)

The Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal will finally come to a political close Monday when the former New York governor, accused of hiring a prostitute named "Kristen" er, Ashley, officially resigns. After two days of ever more sleazy details, including the fact that his presence as "Client 9" led to the breakup of the prostitution ring and the parading of his wife like an accomplice, he announced his resignation yesterday. However, Spitzer still faces the possibility of divorce, disbarment, and even federal Mann Act charges for traveling from New York to DC to have sex with Kristen, er, Ashley the night before Valentine's Day.

There is another sex scandal in New York, one which is much more serious. A NYC councilman will reportedly resign after a July rape.

The councilman, Dennis P. Gallagher, a Queens Republican, was initially charged with raping a woman in his campaign office in Middle Village in July after they met in a nearby bar. Mr. Gallagher, who is married and the father of three children, acknowledged a sexual encounter but said that it had been consensual.

Gallagher is using his resignation from office (much like Spitzer is using his past governorship to negotiate lesser criminal charges under the Mann Act and local statutes) as part of his plea negotiation. He is also said to be close to a deal, which does NOT involve sex offender registration or treatment, but an apology to his victim and alcohol abuse treatment.

In January, a State Supreme Court judge dismissed the indictment of Mr. Gallagher, saying that prosecutors had unfairly prejudiced the grand jury against him. The judge added, however, that the evidence was strong enough to warrant an indictment.

That ruling left the door open for prosecutors to present the case again to a new grand jury. The Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said that he intended to seek a new indictment, but that has not happened.

A sticking point earlier in the plea discussions was whether Mr. Gallagher would be required to register as a sex offender. No such requirement is in the current proposed resolution of the case, according to one of the people familiar with the negotiations.

Gallagher is one of only three Repubilcans on the 51 member City Council, but has only lost his leadership posts for his party (which isn't worth anything if there are only 3 Republicans in the City Council), but not his job. All questions were referred to his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, who refused to comment.

(Update 3-18-08)

Gallagher was given a conditional discharge, meaning that if he completes the conditions of drug and alcohol treatment, and has no contact with his victim, no guilty verdict will be on his record. [And people complain that female teachers get off when convicted of assaulting male students!]

His 52-year-old victim, in a statement read by the prosecutor, said, "I will never recover from the pain, anguish and humiliation I suffered as a result of this man's vicious assault and attack on me.
"He has scarred me for life and he took away my dignity and self-esteem. He is a sexual abuser. It is disappointing and disgusting when a man is given the privilege and honor of serving . . . as an elected official and then betrays our trust."

Rapist, son of prominent Oakland politician, gets 14 years

Taken from the Contra Costa Times:

OAKLAND -- Ignacio De La Fuente Jr., the namesake of Oakland's City Council president, was sentenced Friday to 14 years in state prison for raping three prostitutes and a 15-year-old girl in the Fruitvale neighborhood.
Wearing a green jacket and tan slacks, De La Fuente Jr. sat still with no emotion, as Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allan Hymer told him he would spend about a decade in prison and have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, his family, including Council President De La Fuente also sat quietly showing little emotion.

The family was surrounded by almost two dozen supporters including council members Patricia Kernighan and Henry Chang Jr.; Danny Wan, former councilman and now an attorney at Port of Oakland; and Libby Schaaf, director of public affairs for the Port of Oakland.

As De La Fuente Jr. was escorted from the courtroom, he smiled and waved to his family and supporters.

None of the four victims appeared in court Friday morning, but the mother of the 15-year-old was present and asked to speak before the sentence was read. Her request was denied by Hymer.

The 34-year-old De La Fuente Jr. could be released from prison by his 44th birthday, a far cry from the multiple life sentences he faced when his trial began in May.

The article goes on to say:

The lesser sentence was a result of a plea bargain deal reached with the Alameda County district attorney's office. The deal was struck after three of the four victims testified.

"It's a compromise," said Robert Belles, an attorney representing De La Fuente Jr. "It could have been a life sentence and he would never have seen the light of day again."

Nevertheless, Belles said he still believes there are enough questions in the case to raise doubt about his client's guilt.

De La Fuente Jr. pled guilty to five criminal counts including forcible rape, forcible sexual penetration and forcible oral copulation.

His rape spree began from October 2003 through 2005. In each incident, De La Fuente Jr. picked up the women on the streets of Fruitvale and drove them to secluded areas near Oakland's waterfront, the women testified.

Once there, he parked his car with the passenger side against a building or fence to block their exit and then demanded a sexual act. After he was finished, De La Fuente Jr. refused to pay. The women said De La Fuente Jr. forced himself upon them without using protection. When he finished, the witnesses said, De La Fuente Jr. threw them out of his GMC pickup and drove away.

Although the defense team attempted to discredit the witnesses, the jury believed the sexual assaults had occurred, deputy district attorney Brian Owens said at the time of the plea deal.

Reference

Councilman's son gets 14 years in rape case

NC city official charge with rape after concert

A Lumberton (NC) city councilman was arrested and charged with 1st degree rape after a concert in a Louisville, Ky suburb.

The 18 year old woman was allegedly raped early Saturday morning at a Marriott hotel in Jeffersontown, KY by John Cantey, Jr. She reported the rape at about 6:30 AM. Investigators arrested Cantey after the alleged victim implicated him. They were traveling with the rapper Juvenile, who performed at a concert in Frankfort Friday. He’s the CEO of J.C. Houseman Production Agency.

Lumberton city officials declined comment, but referred questions to City Attorney Robert Price. Cantey was elected as a write-in candidate to Precinct 5 back in 2005. His term is supposed to expire in 2009, but according to North Carolina law, elected officials retain their seats until and unless convicted of a felony, at which time the official is automatically removed from office. Cantey has a misdemeanor conviction for fraud by receiving unemployment benefits while working as a salesman. His sentence was 18 months of unsupervised probation.

Annie Sherman, a neighbor, was shocked to hear about Cantey's charges. "I just can't see it. Some people yes, but not him. I'd trust my children with him," she said.

Cantey is currently being held on $100,000 bond by the Louisville Metro Department Of Corrections.

Lumberton Councilman Charged With Kentucky Rape