New Haven Independent

Former Det. Clarence Willoughby (pictured), 48, is facing charges that he stole money from a confidential-informant fund. His trial was scheduled to begin in Connecticut Superior Court on Church Street Wednesday. Instead he sat alone at a defense table for nearly two hours as lawyers haggled over pretrial motions.

Among the questions in dispute: a subpoena filed by Willoughby’s lawyer, Norman Pattis. The city’s lawyer tried to quash the subpoena, which sought “any and all records” relating to three confidential informants, a complete list of all confidential informants registered with the New Haven police department from 2004 through 2007.

The subpoena also seeks “any and all records, including but not limited to” any internal affairs investigation of Willoughby and five others. And it seeks “any and all records, including inventories, letters and/or receipts relating to documents seized from the New Haven Police Department by the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the past five years.”

Some of the files subpoenaed included documents about former Lt. William White, who is doing time on federal corruption charges, as well as Angela Augustine-Daye, Andrew Muro, Michael Hunter and Patrick Redding.

The two sides’ attorneys argued about the subpoena in private with Judge Joseph A. Licari Jr., who decided not to quash the subpoena at this time. The FBI had seized the files, then returned them to local cops, as part of a separate corruption investigation targeting Lt. White. At the time the detective division was plagued by loose standards, leading to an FBI probe that ended with several detectives being arrested and pleading guilty to corruption charges. The city has since revamped the department and instituted new rules.

Back in open court, city Assistant Corporation Counsel Roderick Williams asked the judge at least to allow the police to redact material that might be subject to erasure, but the judge ruled forbade that. Williams said failure to redact would pose potential harm to confidential informants.

Judge Licari ruled that Pattis and a representative from State’s Attorney Michael Dearington’s office could look over the documents. Pattis could then submit documents to the judge for his approval to see if the defense could produce them as evidence at trial. The judge said that that process would institute enough of a safeguard to prevent dangerous material from leaking out.

“There will be no changes to files by the police department prior to being produced,” he said.

Dearington, who is prosecuting the case, had no comment.

“I was curious what the FBI took and why,” Pattis said of the files. “Mr. Willoughby acted in the scope of his duties with the New Haven police department. I want the right to review these files,” Pattis said

The motion was heard out of the presence of the jury.

The ruling came after a morning’s worth of discussions among Pattis; his assistant, Kevin Smith; Dearington; Williams and the judge.

Willoughby who retired last year after his arrest, is accused of misappropriating as much as $5,300 while helping to investigate cases from 2004 to 2006. The money was to pay for information. Pattis argues the police had no internal mechanism or guidelines for funds dispersal; he hopes that the material he will now be able to review will help prove that point.