Legal Writes

Uncle Mourns Another Street-Violence Loss

by | Apr 26, 2023 5:42 pm | Comments (6)

Paul Bass Photo

Johnny Rodriguez (at left above), father of Tayna "Pookie" Rodriguez (pictured below), consoled by Officer Steve McMorris after Wednesday's press conference.

Danny Heredin was back standing alongside cops to issue a stop the violence” appeal — and wondered aloud about whether the appeals themselves will ever stop.

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Landlord's Court No-Show Debated In Eviction

by | Apr 26, 2023 3:27 pm | Comments (8)

Thomas Breen photo

Landlord attorney Eliana Schachter and property manager Arie Yehonatan Richenberg in eviction court: "I want to do my job."

Raphael Badouch got his day in housing court Tuesday in his company’s effort to evict a nonpaying tenant. He didn’t personally show up.

Raphael Badouch also had a day scheduled in housing court on April 11, to be arraigned in a separate case involving 24 code violations at the same property. He didn’t show up then, either.

That led the judge to ask: Where in the world was Raphael Badouch?

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Convicted Murderer Seeks Reprieve

by | Apr 25, 2023 1:40 pm | Comments (38)

Contributed photo

Kevin Stanley: "I am a totally different person than I was 33 years ago."

A 51-year-old New Havener who has served 33 years behind bars for a murder he committed in 1989 got his chance in court to make a video-streamed plea for another chance at freedom.

He was joined by a host of formerly-incarcerated supporters who pledged to help him transition out of prison if he were to be released — along with his victim’s family and friends and state prosecutors, who sought to keep him locked up.

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Investor Bows Out After Family Plea

by | Apr 24, 2023 8:45 am | Comments (6)

Thomas Breen photo

Ben Ajruli (right) enters another bid as Omar Kh prepares to counter at Saturday's foreclosure auction.

Omar Kh and Ben Ajruli had already gone back and forth and back and forth for 29 rounds at a Hilltop Road tax foreclosure auction when Kh leaned towards his bidding opponent and said seven words that tipped the sale in his favor.

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Videos Reveal Botched Police Raid

by | Apr 17, 2023 5:56 pm | Comments (19)

NHPD image

Cops handcuff Wezenter in her hallway, as seen through police body cam footage.

Police with a search warrant!” a cop shouted after pounding five times with his fist on an East Street apartment’s door. 

Seconds later, he and four fellow officers rammed the door in and wound up pointing a gun at a 20-year-old who’d been asleep in bed — only to realize minutes later they’d raided the wrong apartment.

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LCI Arrives For Court-Ordered Inspection

by | Apr 14, 2023 5:28 pm | Comments (12)

Thomas Breen photos

City inspector Javier Ortiz examines loose tiles and "compromised" subfloor at 23 Vernon, Apt. 2.

A full house for Friday's inspection: Legal aid attorneys Amy Marx and Richard Hine, city attorney Mike Pinto, and LCI's Ortiz and Mark Stroud.

Javier Ortiz leaned over and picked up a triangular shard of cracked ceramic tile from the bathroom floor of a second-story Vernon Street apartment.

The city housing code inspector now had two questions to ask.

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City Employee Arrested For Alleged OT Theft

by and | Apr 14, 2023 1:59 pm | Comments (36)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Mayor Justin Elicker and Police Chief Karl Jacobson Friday.

(Updated) A 12-year veteran city employee turned herself in Friday after the mayor and police chief held a press conference announcing a warrant for her arrest for allegedly falsifying timesheets and stealing over $11,400 in overtime in her most recent role as a Building Department executive admin assistant.

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Lenox Landlord Prevents Sheffield Eviction

by | Apr 13, 2023 4:10 pm | Comments (7)

Thomas Breen file photo

Judge Spader: If tenant's out by May, eviction case will disappear.

A state judge granted a Newhallville tenant an eviction reprieve after a Fair Haven Heights landlord testified that the renter could move into an apartment he owns on Lenox Street, thus sparing her from getting kicked out of her current home.

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Senior Dodges 50-Cent Eviction

by | Apr 12, 2023 4:22 pm | Comments (15)

Laura Glesby photo

Florence Virtue renter Gail Stokes: “Something’s not right.”

Half-dollar debt paid, by mystery benefactor.

When Gail Stokes opened her Dixwell apartment’s front door, she didn’t expect a court marshal who had come to deliver an eviction notice. I stood at the door and just started shaking,” she said.

The 73-year-old tenant held the notice. Sat down. Turned on the oxygen tank that helps her breathe. And called the property manager — who explained to her that she owed 50 cents.

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Ex-Ely Center Employee Slams Board On Sex Offender's Role; Kauder: New Haven's A "Second Chance" City

by | Apr 11, 2023 4:46 pm | Comments (42)

Brian Slattery File Photo

Now-former Ely Center employee Max Schmidt: "I think we can do better."

A now-former employee at a Trumbull Street visual arts gallery left his job after finding out about a board member’s decade-old child pornography arrest.

That employee is now speaking out about what he describes as an insensitive and unsupportive workplace, as well as an alleged exodus of board members sparked by their former colleague’s criminal record.

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Cop-Review Board Frustrations Flow

by | Apr 11, 2023 3:44 pm | Comments (19)

CRB members Iva Johnson and Jewu Richardson (right) with Emma Jones: This board "is going in the wrong direction."

Three members of the city’s struggling police-accountability board joined the effort’s founding force to call for help investigating civilian complaints, a new location to review materials that is not at police headquarters, better community outreach, and more diverse representation among the group’s leadership and staff.

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Anti-Semitic Leaflets Condemned

by | Apr 5, 2023 1:50 pm | Comments (8)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett with New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker: "Hamden and New Haven are places where we celebrate our diversity."

Several dozen public officials, local faith leaders, and community members gathered on the Green for the first day of Passover — not to celebrate the holiday’s onset, but to condemn hate speech following the distribution of anti-semitic leaflets around Hamden and New Haven this past week.

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LCI Takes The Stand

by | Apr 5, 2023 1:33 pm | Comments (18)

Thomas Breen photo

LCI Deputy Mark Stroud, tenant Lakeysha Harrison (back right), and city Asst. Corp Counsel Michael Pinto in court Tuesday.

(Updated) Courtroom sleuths raised, but could not unravel, a housing code mystery: 

Did LCI last pass or fail a Vernon Street apartment? And were city-discovered code violations resolved last September, or do they persist to this day?

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