Category Archives: News
Robert Higbee trial on May 28th
The defense case continued today. Geoffrey Loftus, a really great expert, testified on the issue of memory and attention to support the defense’s theory that the stress of chasing the speeder resulted in Robert Higbee forgetting about the stop sign and then not seeing the sign. I was a little concerned about Loftus getting a little long winded but the TruTv reporter indicated that the jury was paying attention. With these cases, the attorney and the expert need to have some type of code words that indicates that the jury is falling asleep and it is time to speed things up.
If I’m William Subin, Higbee’s attorney, I hammer the fact that the State did not even get into Higbee’s possible memory and attention issues and that the jury would have never leaned about this if it wasn’t for the defense. In addition, the State had the ability to call its own expert and they didn’t. Of course, Loftus could not say that Higbee had issues with his memory when he made the statement. Instead, he could only say that Higbee could have developed a false memory due to the events of the case.
If I’m the prosecutor, I focus on the fact that Higbee is not a rookie; in fact, he teaches rookies. In addition, it is not as if every state trooper or police officer crashes into other people every day when 1000’s of speeders are pulled over all across New Jersey. Thus, what is so stressful about pulling over a speeder, something that he has done 1000’s of times, that would prevent him from seeing a stop sign? After all, state troopers more so than anyone else, are concerned with safety, traffic controls at intersections, etc. Thus, they should be looking to make sure that the intersection is safe before going through it at 60+ mph. As a result, I would argue that Higbee could have seen the sign and/or should have known the sign was there and that he blew right through the intersection and then covered it up either intentionally or unintentionally a few weeks later.
So, there are good issues on both sides. For all the back and forth, I think this comes down to what the jury thinks about Higbee. If they like him a lot, they will probably vote not guilty. If they like the victims more, they will probably vote guilty. As a result, it is quite possible that this will end in a dead locked jury because opinions about character or a personal attachment to the victims or Higbee are unlikely to be swayed by factual or legal arguments. In fact, the more each side is challenged, the more they may dig into their own positions. Of course, if the juror are more analytical, they will probably say that the State came close, but not close enough and thus, vote not guilty.
Robert Higbee trial on May 27
Not a lot of testimony today. The State’s last witness was the medical examiner who only reviewed the report of the ME that actually conducted the autopsy of the two victims in the case. Normally I’d take great issue with that but it didn’t seem like that big of a deal here. Higbee’s attorney William Subin made some interesting points with the ME by bringing out the fact that the victims were killed by numerous injuries to the head and that at least one of the victims were not wearing a seat belt. Thus, the ME cannot say that Higbee directly caused the deaths of the victims.
Of course, you don’t want to blame the victims, but raising the issue as a minor defense theme could create some more doubt with at least a juror or two. It will be interesting to see how they play that car.
The other big news item was the Defense’s motion for a judgment of acquittal. These motions are almost always denied. However, this one was rather interesting as it was William Subin vs. Judge Batten. It was almost as if the prosecutor wasn’t there. While I normally wouldn’t want to lay everything on the line like that, I suppose there is nothing to lose as the defense is rather obvious.
I hope someone working for Subin recorded this and took notes as Judge Batten is rather well thought out and as a result, he really gave Subin the prosecutor’s entire summation. Good stuff.
David T. Granskie Jr also charged in murder of Bridgewater woman
David T. Granskie Jr of Oak Street in Bridgewater, first interviewed as a witness in connection with the murder of Carol Stone has now been arrested as a witness. Authorities now allege that this was a plot between Granskie and the other two defendants to rape and kill Stone. One of the defendants, Gary Wilson allegedly confessed to police and indicated that, as I suspected, was drinking and using drugs for many hours prior to the attack. Again, all attorneys here need to move quickly to further establish the level of intoxication and then to present statements to the Prosecutor before the case is presented to the grand jury. The Prosecutor should then present the defense of intoxication to the grand jury. If they don’t, the defense has a great motion to dismiss the indictment.
Story is here.
Robert Higbee trial on May 26th
Today saw the crime scene re-constructionist back on the stage. I think it was a great day for the defense for a number of reasons, but the primary one is that Higbee’s attorney, William Subin really focused the case on the main issue for the defense: if Higbee didn’t see the stop sign, he couldn’t have been reckless. Subin also did a good job of objecting over and over again as the Prosecutor tried to get around the objections that the court sustained.
High bail for four men charged with making threats
I feel like this story is missing something. Ronald Agosto, 24, Sotirius Haralampidis, 25, Klaus Jaeschke, 25, all of North Bergen, and Mario Guidz Cabassa, 33, of West New York have been charged with making terroristic threats, a third degree offense. If they have no record, they should get probation. Nevertheless, they were all being held in lieu of $100,000 each at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River which is a ridiculous bail; again, unless I am missing something.
The whole case is just that the four men allegedly followed an arcade worker out of the arcade and down the street, voicing threats and making threatening hand gestures. That is it. Most of the time, you can assault someone and get a bail lower than $5o,ooo. Hopefully, all four men will get good attorneys right away to file a bail motion.
Story is here.
5 arrested in Green Brook drug bust
Five people have been arrested after an investigation by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force and Green Brook township police. Raphael Salermo, 21, of Warren; Alfred Stephens, 21, of Plainfield; Nyesha Mills, 20, of Plainfield; Carl Mattos, 21, of Green Brook; and Jonathan Alvarez, 22, of Green Brook have beenn charged with various drug offenses.
The first arrest started with a stop of Mattos’ car even though there is no indication as to why he was stopped. After a search of his car allegeldy revealed drugs in the car, the police obtained a warrant and searched two rooms at the Ivory Motel in addition to a car that pulled up to the Motel room while the search was underway.
This will be tough for all of the defendants because Somerset County is a tough place to practice. Many of our cases wind up going to trial. Story is here.
Two Bridgewater men charged in death of woman
Two Bridgewater men, Gary W. Wilson and Rocky M. Ditaranto are both charged with first-degree murder in the alleged slaying of Carolyn M. Stone after a party at her house. Police allege that the men strangled Stone in the her yard early Sunday morning, striking her in the head with a cinder block before running for their respective, nearby homes.
There are no details yet as to how police were able to figure all of this out. So, there may have been witnesses or one of the men confessed or both. Regardless, self defense seems unlikely so the only defense that seems plausible here is intoxication. Of course, both men need good attorneys now to start trial prep today and not a year from now.
Story is here.
Pest control company owner faces numerous charges over dead squirrel
This is the type of case where I would reduce my fees to help the person out because I think they are getting screwed over by the system. Now don’t get my wrong, I love animals and everything but there reaches a point where it gets crazy.
Kathleen Buck, owner of Critter Ridder has been charged with four counts of animal cruelty after a squirrel died in a trap that she set. The trap was set on Wednesday at 1pm. By Thursday at 5pm, the trap had baked to death. I think a donation by Buck to an animal shelter should settle this case instead of having this impact her or her business. She has been in business for 30 years and has not had a problem.
Story is here.
Robert Higbee trial on May 21st
There was no testimony on the 20th because Robert Higbee’s attorney was ill. There is no testimony on the 22nd because of an unpaid day off for State employees. Testimony will resume on Tuesday.
Today’s witness was Richard Ruth, the “black box expert”. The defense didn’t even start cross yet so I expect at least another full day of testimony if not more. However, during the voir dire of the expert the defense can cross the expert about their qualifications. In this case, William Subin, Higbee’s attorney did a great job in ripping apart Mr. Ruth who seemed a little “off”. This is the type of guy that wears a short tie which just tells me a lot about him. Mr. Subin brought out the fact that Mr. Ruth forgot about what trial he did testify at and which he didn’t. For me, it was the most exciting part of the case because Subin and Ruth really went at it. While I think Subin could have crafted a little better to box Ruth in, I know it is easy for me to say that when I am not in the heat of trial.
For all of the expert’s testimony, I think a lot of it was too much information for the jury to handle with much of it being pointless. One key issue that came out was that Higbee tapped on his brake pedal before the warning sign for the stop sign. Thus, the State will argue that Higbee saw the stop sign, tapped on his brake and then still went through the stop sign thinking that no one was coming from the other way.
Of course, this is all just speculation. Mr. Subin needs to hammer the point home that you don’t know why he tapped on the brake, i.e is this his normal driving behavior or did he see the stop sign? That is really the key point of the case. Crossing this expert on and on about this and that will only distract from the key points of the defense. As I’ve said before, this is actually a fairly simple case that is being made more complicated by both sides.
A quick note on TV attorneys
I once had a client that hired an attorney because she was on TruTv (then Court TV). In the client’s opinion, she did a whole lotta nothing for them but she still took the money. I saw the attorney on TV recently and I wanted to just make sure people know that not every attorney on TV is a good attorney. Some, if not a large number of TV attorneys pay to be on there. I can hire a PR firm today and probably be on some national show in the next few months. Does that mean I am better than any other attorney? Of course not; it just means that I spent a lot of money.
Again, some attorneys on TV are on there simply because they are viewed as great attorneys. One way to tell is whether or not the attorney had to drive to the appearance. For example, one of the other attorneys in my office was picked up in a limo for a TV appearance. Other attorneys I know that have paid to get on TV had to drive there. Yet again, a TV appearance alone does not mean the attorney is the best attorney for you regardless of how the attorney got there.
Finally, my main concern with TV attorneys is they are often proclaimed as experts by the show that they are on. Here’s the problem with that. I know an attorney that does not practice criminal law and yet he goes on TV as a criminal defense attorney. Crazy huh?
Tonacchio Law LC 