Accused Dog Killer Goes Judge Shopping

It’s called judge shopping, or gaming the system. That, say those familiar with the practice, is precisely what happened last week when a criminal defense attorney for a Branford man accused of strangling his dog bought the time he needed to get a new judge to decide his case.

The case centers on a young man, Alex Wullaert (pictured above leaving the courthouse this month), 22, who lives in Branford. He has confessed to police that he strangled Desmond, his boxer- pit bull mix, to death last January. Wullaert faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the intentional animal cruelty charges. The Desmond case has prompted scores of protestors to the Superior Court on Elm Street each time the case appears on the docket. 

Wullaert also confessed to police that he repeatedly punished Desmond, then 6, by starving him, hitting him with a shoe, spanking him and locking him a small bathroom for 12 hours a day. Last January, after the disoriented Desmond peed on him, Wullaert told police, he went into a rage and strangled the dog to death with the dog’s own collar in January.

Wullaert had adopted the dog at a local animal shelter — -his then ex-girlfriend had given Desmond up for adoption—- without telling shelter officials that he and his girlfriend had lived with Desmond for years. Many of the protestors met Desmond at the shelter.

Wullaert applied for accelerated rehabilitation (A/R) in June, a program that if approved by a judge would have his charges dismissed and his record expunged after he completes his probation. The program is for non-violent, first-time offenders. Wullaert has been arrested in the past, including an arrest for attempting to strangle his live-in girlfriend, but so far he has managed to get these charges dropped. The protesters want jail time. (Click here to read a previous story about A/R.)

After Wullaert applied for A/R his attorney, Richard Silverstein, sought and won two court continuances. What he wanted was a third continuance. That would take case into September. At that point Superior Court Judge Susan Connors will no longer be on the bench in New Haven.

Silverstein arrived at the courthouse on the morning of Aug. 10 and asked Judge Connors, who has overseen the case from the outset, to again postpone the case. But the judge denied his request, telling him to be in court with his client at 2 p.m., the time she had originally set for a hearing to determine the course of the case.

Playing For Time

Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph LaMotta, the prosecutor, and Silverstein, the defense attorney, knew when they entered the courtroom Aug. 9 that Judge Connors was scheduled to be rotated out of Part A of the Superior Court on Elm Street by Sept. 1. The rotation had been in the works for months.

Judge Connors, who is known as a tough judge when it comes to animal cruelty cases, had put a considerable amount of time into the case. 

As court got under way, Judge Connors made it clear that she was prepared to act by either denying or granting the A/R application. She told the Desmond supporters in the audience that regardless of the outcome, she wanted them to know there would be no outbursts in her court. 

She addressed the Desmond group, including those who cared for him at a New Haven shelter, telling them that she had read all their letters and the files they had supplied to her in large binders. She noted they opposed Accelerated Rehabilitation. ​“I know how strongly you feel about this matter,” the judge said. She then urged decorum and said she required there be no reaction, no outbursts. If that happens, she said, ​“You will be escorted out of the courtroom.”

Also seated in court, behind the animal rights group, were Laura Burban, director of Branford’s animal shelter, and her top two animal control officers, Pam Medlyn and Wendy Joyce. Burban was there because she had asked LaMotta to seek judicial conditions on Wullaert to prevent him from having any domestic animals for the duration of the court case. Burban provided information to LaMotta that showed Wullaert purchased another dog shortly after he killed Desmond and then neglected it. 

Before the judge was Wullaert’s motion for accelerated rehabilitation. It appeared that LaMotta, the prosecutor, would argue against the A/R motion and if the judge agreed, the case would be returned to the regular criminal court docket. If that happened, at some point Wullaert would have to enter a plea to the charges.

But before the A/R application could be decided, Silverstein, the defense attorney, announced that he was withdrawing his A/R motion and asked for the next court date. He also asked LaMotta if the state was ​“willing to make an offer of some sort,” meaning an offer that would include a guilty plea in exchange for a specific sentence that Silverstein agreed to. In Silverstein’s best scenario, his client would serve no jail time.

LaMotta said he could not provide an offer since he had learned only that minute that Silverstein was formally withdrawing his A/R application. Judge Connors told both attorneys to come up with a plea offer by the next court date, Sept. 13.

Then the judge announced in open court what Silverstein and LaMotta already knew, that given the routine rotation of judges, she would no longer be sitting on this case. She will be replaced and a new judge will have to get up to speed on the case by the next court date.

A Common Practice

“As long as there have been lawyers and litigation, lawyers on both sides have sought to judge shop,” said Jeffrey A. Meyer, a law professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law, who specializes in criminal procedure. He said in an interview that the practice of judge shopping is legal and not uncommon but it must be consistent with court rules. (Meyer is also a visiting professor of law at Yale Law School.)

“Now the rules ordinarily discourage judge shopping,” he said. In federal court, for example, ​“the clerk’s office spins the wheel and comes up with a random assignment of a judge,” said Meyer, a former federal prosecutor. That federal judge stays with the case from beginning to end. But state courts, he said, don’t use the same system. Judges are rotated ​‚and everyone in the state courthouse knows the judges rotate out at the end of August.

One fallout from the state’s rotation system, Professor Meyer said, is that judges do a lot of work on a case only to find they can’t complete it. ​“This comes at some expense to judicial efficiency,” he said, adding ​“you have to start all over again with another judge.”

Professor Meyer noted that Silverstein engaged in delay, ​“and delay is often times in the best interest of criminal defendants. It is well established strategy and is well known to all the parties.” 

“It is standard and generally ethical for a defense attorney to try to slow things down, to try to serve the interests of a client. And it is not in their interest to go too fast, especially when there is the height of public emotion on a particular case. The defense attorney wants his client’s fate being decided outside of an emotional maelstrom”

But emotions tend to run high in this case, in part because of the delays.

Micah Rapini, one of Desmond’s shelter moms, and a key organizer of what she calls ​“Desmond’s Army,” said after the court session last week: ​“I was disappointed. I don’t know if I was really surprised. It was a huge blow to us to lose this judge. She was familiar with us; she read all of our letters, our comments… We do not know who the new judge will be.”

As for Silverstein, she said: ​“I felt that delay was one of his goals. He postponed often and there were last minute cancellations of the court date. I really struggled with the last court date, three weeks ago on July 26. I had heard the evening before that Alex was not going to be in court. People had taken the day off from work; many were coming to court from out of state. So I decided to share this news with Desmond’s Facebook page. We had a great turn out. We were here as he drove by us. Click here to read the story.

Silverstein has refused repeated requests to be interviewed. He told the Eagle at the last court appearance that he intends to talk only in a court setting.

As Wullaert left court on Aug. 9, Silverstein asked six court officers to surround him for protection. They walked with him until he left the courthouse steps.

Then the demonstrators, mostly all of whom were female, ran after him shouting, ​“Coward!” and ​“Murderer!” They followed him across Church Street, all the way to his parking lot. 

Conditions Ordered

When Wullaert left the court last week he did so with new judicial conditions imposed upon his conduct. Before the hearing ended, LaMotta, the prosecutor, had asked Judge Connors to impose conditions on Wullaert to prevent him from owning or keeping a domestic animal while his court case is still pending. She agreed.

Burban said in an interview afterwards that Wullaert’s actions with Desmond showed ​“a history of violence.” She also knew that he had, in fact, purchased another dog shortly after he killed Desmond, one that looked just like Desmond. She and her staff gathered information about the second dog. Wullaert named him Hector. They found he had neglected Hector. Wullaeart has told others he gave Hector to a friend. She sent her file to LaMotta.

LaMotta told the judge that the second dog, a puppy, had been neglected and that animal control officers could not verify the dog’s address. Wullaert told the animal control officers he had given the dog to a friend, but LaMotta said no address was verified. 

“The state’s concern is obvious,” LaMotta said. ​“He should not be able to have any animal during these proceedings.” The judge slowly read the paperwork Burban had submitted to LaMotta. 

The judge asked Silverstein if he had seen the paperwork that showed Wullaert had purchased another dog. He told her he had not, adding that his client knew nothing about this other dog and has stated he has never had another dog.

“These are very serious allegations,” the judge told Silverstein as she peered at him. Then she imposed the conditions LaMotta sought, an action that brought relief for Burban and for the Desmond group. This ruling would be her final action in the Desmond case. 

Before the hearing ended, Silverstein again sought assurances from Judge Connors that if he wants, he can resubmit his application for A/R. He was told he can. He smiled. 

Whether he does so or whether he agrees to a plea bargain with LaMotta will play out before a new judge on Sept. 13.

None of this came as a surprise to LaMotta, the prosecutor, who has witnessed this scenario in court many times before. In fact, he told the Eagle afterwards that a defense attorney can resubmit as many applications for A/R as he wants.

What he didn’t say, because he didn’t have to, was that the judge shopping system provides a way to find a judge of choice. 

###