If you are confused by the recent actions of Bethany’s Planning and Zoning Commission, here’s an attempt to decode them. The commission’s vote last week to deny the Green Haven application for a change in zoning regulations to permit what amounts to condominium development in Bethany was rejected "without prejudice." In legal speak, that means the application can be resubmitted all over again, as in Tuesday morning, after Monday’s general elections.
In the town’s general elections on Monday, a series of municipal offices will be filled, including First...
May 5, 2013
I wasn’t surprised to learn that United States Attorney David Fein tendered his resignation and will soon step down from his latest incarnation as United States Attorney. Word on the street has always been that he would be a one-term occupant of that office. His eyes were said to be on a far greater prize, perhaps a federal judgeship, or maybe a more senior perch in the second Obama administration.
But opportunities for advancement apparently did not materialize, so he’s returning to private practice, or so he says. This gives the president an opportunity to appoint a...
May 5, 2013
Perhaps the most telling moment in Ken Burns’ new documentary on the Central Park Five case is when a juror explains why he voted guilty.
The kids confessed to the brutal rape of a jogger in Central Park in 1989. Why, he wondered, would innocent kids confess to something they did not do?
The five young men were convicted despite the absence of physical evidence corroborating their involvement. Their confessions, the product of long and secret custodial interrogations, were the centerpiece of the prosecution.
The convictions were ultimately set aside many years after the fact...
May 2, 2013
Update: The Bethany Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to reject Green Haven's proposed zone change last night, with Patricia Winer abstaining. Ms. Winer observed she was unhappy with public comments directed toward her. My, my, Ms. Winer. The kitchen wasn't that hot, was it?
We generally vote for the Democratic Party in local elections in my household. But this year, there is only one thing that will stop both my wife and me from voting for the Republican Party ticket in the May 6 election this year in Bethany, and that is simple: The town’s Planning and Zoning...
April 27, 2013
April 25, 2013
Trial is an imperfect vehicle for finding the truth. We all know that. Juries and judges make mistakes. We permit clients to seek a new trial when a...
April 25, 2013
Before leaping to the conclusion that lawmen in Boston worked a miracle last week by locking the city down as they searched for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,...
April 22, 2013
I fail to see why the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit went out of its way to tomahawk Attorney John R. Williams. But there it...
April 21, 2013
If it takes a village to raise a child, then what kind of society spawns a 19-year-old terrorist? We can explore "foreign" influences on Dzhokhar...
April 20, 2013
It appears as though the manhunt is over. Law enforcement officers report they were looking for two suspects. Two brothers are now either dead or in...
April 19, 2013
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