Thursday, January 28, 2016
As officers swarmed Stephens' Elmwood Avenue apartment, he asked police, "Who wants to die?" He taunted officers trying to break down his door to "hit harder" and raised his muzzleloader rifle when they finally entered.
DEA Agent Tim Hoffman and Vermont State Police Trooper Matt Cannon, assigned to the task force, fired 13 shots from their assault rifles, hitting Stephens seven times. Three other rounds they fired exited Stephens' apartment, and two entered a neighboring apartment. A resident there was not hurt.
Stephens’ rifle could not have fired, because he had not inserted the primer, Donovan said. Cops could not have known that, authorities said.
Tags: T.J. Donovan , DEA , Burlington , Eric Miller , Vermont State Police , Image , Video , Web Only
Monday, January 25, 2016
The state collected less than one-third of the $3.1 million in court-ordered fees for public defenders from 2012 through 2014, Hoffer concluded.
"More aggressive action on the part of the judiciary could result in more effective collection of public defender fee debt," Hoffer concluded.
The judiciary, however, took issue with Hoffer's report. Court officials say it may be unconstitutional to aggressively collect payments from poor defendants before assigning them a public defender.
As mandated by the U.S. Constitution, Vermont pays for attorneys for criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire their own. However, defendants are expected to pay a small fee for the services of public defenders. The fee varies based on a defendant's income, and a judge can waive the fee for the most poor, but is usually $50.
For defendants who can pay, state law says that court clerks should seek payment of a portion at their initial court appearance, with the rest paid within two months.
Tags: Doug Hoffer , juduciary , courts , public defender , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 22, 2016
For nearly nine months, the committee of 11 state's attorneys has been reviewing allegations made by Vermont Republican Party vice chair Brady Toensing that Sorrell violated campaign finance law and took official action in exchange for campaign contributions. The panel's investigation was conducted by Shelburne attorney Tom Little, who was appointed to the role last May by Gov. Peter Shumlin.
The Vermont Press Bureau's Neal Goswami obtained a draft of Little's long-overdue report and published it Thursday night. The panel released a finalized version Friday.
According to the report, which largely concerns itself with Toensing's lesser allegations, Little found no evidence that Sorrell violated campaign finance law. But he declined to investigate the most serious allegation — that Sorrell agreed to file suit against the oil and gas industry at the behest of a Texas law firm that contributed to his campaign while making the request. Sorrell's office later hired that firm and guaranteed it a percentage of any winnings from the case.
Little and the state's attorneys determined that "some relevant persons and alleged actions" related to the corruption allegation "lie beyond Vermont's borders and beyond the scope of this inquiry, making closure of the investigation vis a vis those allegations impossible at this time."
Tags: Bill Sorrell , Tom Little , David Cahill , Brady Toensing , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 14, 2016
We're pleased to join the current century. Follow and tweet at us! @ColchesterPDVT #technology
— Colchester PD VT (@ColchesterPDVT) January 14, 2016Tags: Police , twitter , Brandon del Pozo , Colchester , Hinesburg , Image , Web Only
The bill is a first step to bring privacy protections up to speed with evolving technology, Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P- Chittenden) told his colleagues.
Before passage, the Senate Judiciary Committee had stripped out the provision that generated the most controversy — a proposal to allow individuals to sue and collect penalties and legal expenses if the privacy of their medical records was breached. "We agreed that provision wasn't fine-tuned," Ashe said, but he also acknowledged heavy lobbying by physicians.
Tags: Sen. Tim Ashe , Senate Judiciary Committee , Paul Harrington , Vermont Medical Society , ACLU of Vermont , Allen Gilbert , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 7, 2016
"When the police chief said you could show up with a ticket and not get in, I took that as a challenge," said Burlington resident Mark Conrad, who stood in the darkness by himself when he arrived outside the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts at 4:30 a.m.
Conrad is no fan of Trump's and hopes to be able to razz the Republican presidential contender during his scheduled 7 p.m. appearance.
"I just want to ask [Trump] a question that will bother him."
Burlington has been on alert for a fiasco since Wednesday, when the Trump campaign announced it had given out roughly 20,000 tickets for the 1,400-seat Flynn. Police warned that they would have to close downtown streets and turn away thousands of people from the Flynn. Meanwhile, liberal activists scheduled multiple events for later this afternoon to protest Trump's appearance. Local and national media, unable to resist the narrative of Trump holding court on Bernie Sanders' turf, prepared to swarm the area.
But the day got off to a tranquil start.
Tags: Donald Trump , Burlington , police , Del Pozo , Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Dr. James Hebert, a general surgeon at the University of Vermont Medical Center, described being in crowded rooms with patients and their relatives and opening up a computer to review medical records. "It is hard to find a nook where only you can see it," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "One of the unintended consequences of electronic medical records is that it makes privacy very difficult," Hebert said.
Paul Harrington, executive vice president of the Vermont Medical Society, argued the new right to sue was unnecessary. Patients already can file complaints with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights or with the Vermont Attorney General, he said.
Allen Gilbert, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, countered that the Office of Civil rights rarely imposes sanctions in small privacy breaches. He told lawmakers that other states allow patients to sue, "so you would not be doing anything unusual by creating this private right of action."
The provision allowing lawsuits for breaches in the privacy of health data is one of four areas of protection that the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to provide consumers. The bill also would put restrictions on law enforcement's use of drones, electronic communications and images captured by license-plate readers.
Tags: ACLU of Vermont , Allen Gilbert , cannabis related , Paul Harrington , Sen. Dick Sears , Vermont Medical Society , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
"People marvel that they can walk into this building and not feel like they are being watched or followed by some security apparatus," said Vincent Illuzzi, a lobbyist and former senator who has spent 35 years in the Statehouse. More than once, he headed a committee that weighed increasing security in the building. "Maybe we were naive or foolish or nostalgic, but we thought it would change the atmosphere in the building," he said.
But after a spate of mass shootings and the public slaying of a Department for Children and Families social worker in Barre, some lawmakers see a need for training in how to respond to potential emergencies: shootings, fires and bomb threats.
"There are some legislators who think it is not going to happen here," said Rep. Linda Myers (R-Essex). "That isn't true."
Tags: Sergeant at Arms , Capitol Police , Vincent Illuzzi , Linda Myers , Alice Emmons , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 4, 2016
Chief Deputy Chittenden County State's Attorney Mary Morrissey and Windsor County State's Attorney Michael Kainen were appointed to the bench, along with veteran Burlington attorneys John Pacht and Michael Harris. Later in the day, Shumlin appointed David Cahill, executive director of Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, to replace Kainen as Windsor County's top prosecutor.
Pacht, a Hinesburg resident, is a founding partner in the firm Hoff Curtis P.C. and has practiced criminal, family and civil law. He is filling a new judicial position designed to address a caseload spike in family and opiate-related matters.
Kainen is a former state representative and defense attorney from Hartford. He is filling a vacancy left by retired judge John Wesley.
Cahill, a Norwich resident who formerly worked as a deputy state's attorney in Windsor County, will serve the remaining three years of Kainen's term. Cahill has been managing the investigation into whether Attorney General Bill Sorrell violated campaign finance laws.
Tags: Shumlin , Kainen , judges , Morrissey , Pacht , Harris , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
John Paul Faignant, the attorney for former Rutland police officer Andrew Todd, said the Rutland Board of Aldermen approved the settlement Monday night. It is believed to be one of the largest civil settlements of its kind in Vermont, the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said.
Todd alleged that he was subjected to racial slurs and other abuse from his fellow officers. But Todd's allegations went far beyond beyond internal police operations.
Todd accused some officers of racially profiling drug suspects, carrying on inappropriate relationships with female confidential informants and drinking on duty.
Faignant said that Todd, an African American, was pleased that the lawsuit had helped publicize allegations that Rutland authorities had swept under the rug.
Tags: Rutland police , Andrew Todd , John Paul Faignant , Chris Louras , discrimination , Rutland , Image , Web Only