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Judge Spader: "This case is hereby dismissed."
A state housing court judge cleared a local megalandlord’s potential criminal record after finding that he complied with the terms of a year-long diversionary program.
State Superior Court Judge Walter Spader, Jr. handed down that decision Tuesday morning at the end of a brief, procedural hearing in the sole remaining criminal housing court case of Ocean Management’s Shmuel Aizenberg.
The case dated back to July 2023, when Aizenberg first appeared in court for a Class C misdemeanor charge for a water-damaged kitchen ceiling and walls in a first-floor apartment inside a 12-unit complex on 11 Gorham Ave. in Hamden that violated the town’s public health code.
Spader initially denied Aizenberg’s application for accelerated rehabilitation (AR) in this case in September 2023, siding with state prosecutor Donna Parker’s argument that the oft-fined landlord was likely to get in legal trouble again. Spader then reversed course in January 2024 and, citing the low-level nature of the criminal charge and Aizenberg’s improved legal track record, granted Aizenberg’s AR application.
Per that January 2024 AR application approval, if Aizenberg didn’t get arrested on any other charges for a year, then the Hamden housing criminal charge would be dropped.
Which is exactly what happened on Tuesday.
Aizenberg and his attorney, Gerry Giaimo, didn’t show up to Tuesday’s hearing. As prosecutor Parker explained to the judge, the defendant did not need to appear in court — because the probation department had found Aizenberg in compliance, and therefore eligible for the case to be dismissed.
This case is “down for dismissal,” Parker said. The probation department’s report found that Aizenberg “is in fact successful” in complying with the AR program, and therefore he had no obligation to appear.
Spader repeated those facts: that probation had found Aizenberg in compliance. Based on the successful completion of the AR program, he concluded, “this case is hereby dismissed.”
Giaimo declined to comment on behalf of his client for this story. He noted that this hearing was scheduled a year ago for dismissal on Tuesday, so there’s nothing new from his side.