NJ Attorney John Paragano charged with violating restraining order by allegedly posting video on MySpace
Posted by whitecollarcrimenews on April 21, 2009
John Paragano, a New Jersey attorney from Brick Township was arrested this week and charged by Chester Township police with contempt of court for allegedly posting a video titled “Superdiva Meltdown” on a MySpace Web page. There is no indication as to what profile this was posted on. Mr. Paragano denies the allegations although I don’t think that giving a phone interview to the press was really the best move here. I hope he hires a good attorney that knows how to deal with computer crime and electronic evidence issues.
The video consists of portions of a deposition that Prior gave as part of the divorce action. The criminal complaint says that the video consisted of “the most emotional, personal and embarrassing portions” of her testimony.
This should be fairly easy to figure out as there are only so many people that had access to the video and IP addresses should be able to show who created the profile and who uploaded the video. Paragano claims to not have access to the video which I would not have wanted him to say. By making this statement, he has drawn a line in the sand for the police to prove that he did have access to the video. If they can show this alone, his credibility will be at issue.
The stakes are also high here because he is an attorney. Besides his reputation, any conviction here could lead to other ethics issues.
Putting the proof issues aside for a moment, I don’t see how this allegation would be criminal conduct. If you have access to a video of a person and you do not edit it to make her say things she did not say, you would be protected by the 1st amendment. Of course, the prior history of the entire case and the alleged editing will be used to show that this was harassment. In other words, this is going to be drawn out and get messy.
I don’t know the guy, but like I said, I hope he has a good attorney. He’ll need a new one because his divorce attorney may be a witness in this case. The John Paragano story is here.
John Paragano, Esq. said
You know Jef, I submit you are not a criminal defense attorney. The first issue you should focus on is whether it is a communication as defined by the statute, and it is not. Second, all matters in a divorce proceeding are public including video tapped depositions, unless protected by Court Order. Diane Prior knew she the deposition was on video, in fact in calling me a “slime” and a “scumbag”, she stated “I know he is watching me on video and I want him to to know he is a slime and scumbag”. According to State v. Hoffman, in order for there to be a harrassment as defined by the statute, there must be an invasion of privacy, so please explain what expectation of privacy there is in a video tapped deposition that will be made public at trial. Moreover, I would invite the police to examine my ip address on all my computers to see who uploaded the video. In fact, should they not have obtained a warrant and done that BEFORE charging me with a Fourth Degree Offense. As both a divorce and criminal attorney (as that are my only two areas of practice), I respectfully suggest you do a little research before you open your mouth and blos about issues you know little about.
whitecollarcrimenews said
John,
I’m not sure I understand your problem with my post. If anything, it was slanted in your favor. The purpose of my blog is to report on a story in the news and offer some quick comments. I’m not going to perform an entire legal analysis on a case, especially since I don’t have all of the facts. I know the law on this issue quite well and I think I made it clear that the case against you was questionable. Regardless, you are entitled to your opinion and I wish you the best of luck.
John Paragano, Esq. said
Well maybe I am overly sensetive these days, so if my post was harsh I am soory. I took issue with the repeated reference that “I needed a good attorney”. In fact, I have Vince Celli, who is recognized as one of the best divorce attorneys in that State and Brian Neary on the criminal, need I say more. First, you need to understand a few facts. I have a 2.5 year marriage. I sold my pre-marital home, which was not subject to equitable distribution, and purchased a new home with my soon to be ex-wife because her mother had Alzheimers and my house could not accomidate her needs. A year later, I come to find out my wife has a boyfriend, obviously I was not paying enough attention to her wiping her mother’s ass, cleaning up after her when she defecated on the floor and in the bed. Be that as it may, I wanted to go to counseling, as I did not believe the relationship with the so-called boyfriend has turned sexual. All of this is fully documented by the way. So my wife was acting “suspicious” and “out of sorts”, even though all I asked was that the4 relationship be terminated. SO here is the basis of the restraining order, and there are “mutual” restraining orders by the way. I created a screen name one letter off from the boyfriend, sent her an email, and was shocked to say the least at the responce. I created a meeting under the guise of the boyfriend, confronted my wife in public, announced I would be filing for divorce and was arrested in my driveway when I arrived home for “harrassment”. We agreed to mutual restraining orders as I was promised she would take her assets, I would take mine and we would go our seperate ways. That never came about, 30 days after filing her complaint for divorce for irr. differences, she amended her complaint to include a Tevis Claim, that was 18 months ago. She has attemtped to violate me on the restraining order 5 times, again I have the police reports and proof. As I siad, I invite the police to research the ip address as this video did not come from me. Indeed, I submit after 5 failed attempts to violate me on the restraining order, this was her ploy. Nevertherless, you are right in one regard, I will fight to the end to clear my ny reputation, and if I was over emotional with your post, take it in light of 10 motions, 5 Orders To Show Cause and one appeal to the Appellate Division. I should note thsat we prevailed on almost everything, but it takes a toll. I have now been arrested twice because of this woman and all I can say is no matter how many days I spend in jail, I will never give into extortion. I wish you too the best of luck.
Thiggetkits said
Hey guys,
I just joined this forum and wanted to introduce myself. I look forward to learning and contributing.
Cheers