nothin New Haven Independent | Yale Asks Judge To Quash Wang Subpoena

Yale Asks Judge To Quash Wang Subpoena

Dr. Vanjinder Toor

A Yale University attorney Friday asked a Superior Court judge to quash Dr. Lishan Wang’s subpoena seeking the personnel records of Dr. Vanjinder Toor, the man Dr. Wang is accused of gunning down outside his Branford condo in 2010.

Dr. Toor was a post-doctoral fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, skilled in the area of infectious diseases, when he was killed. He was 34. Now Dr. Wang seeks Dr. Toor’s personnel records along with all disciplinary and human resources records connected to his education and to his Yale employment. He also seeks to review Dr. Toor’s evaluations, recommendations and applications for jobs, licenses and training. 

Dr. Wang, 48, who is acting as his own attorney, sent a subpoena Dec. 23 to Yale via the public defender’s office, demanding all personnel, disciplinary and human resources records arising from his tenure as a fellow at the Department of Infectious Diseases Fellow’s Program, from the date Dr. Toor started to July 1, 2010.” 

Attorney Patrick M. Noonan, who represented Yale, appeared in Superior Court because Yale was commanded by the subpoena to do so on Friday at 10 a.m. Noonan stood in the well of the court at one table while Dr. Wang stood at an adjacent table as Superior Court Judge Thomas V. O’Keefe, Jr., briefly introduced them. Dr. Wang smiled as he met Noonan. Dr. Wang is no longer dressed in the orange jump suit of a defendant. With the approval of the judge he is now wearing a shirt and trousers to court, more in keeping with the style of an attorney, though his ankles are still shackled. 

Is This A Fishing Expedition? 

Typically when there is a subpoena for the personnel and private records of a victim a defendant is accused of killing, attorneys refer to it as a fishing expedition.” And while that term was not used in court, Noonan wrote in a six-page motion to quash the subpoena that Dr. Wang needed to say why these documents were even relevant to his murder trial. He also said disclosure of these records is barred by state and federal law, even if a person is dead.

Before rummaging through the confidential records of Dr. Toor,” Noonan wrote in his motion to quash, the defendant should articulate some theory under which the requested documents are relevant before Yale is required to engage in a time-consuming process of identifying and reviewing the requested documents.

At this juncture, the University can divine no potential relevance. For example, could the defendant seriously contend that if Dr. Toor had done poorly on his anatomy rotation, that would give rise to a defense of justifiable homicide? Without some showing of relevance, the Motion to Quash should be granted summarily. It is difficult to comprehend how the subpoenaed records could even arguably be relevant to the issues to be resolved in this matter,” he said of the murder case. 

Attorney Noonan, whose offices are in Guilford, also wrote that Yale was not served with the subpoena until Dec. 23, after the University had shut down for the holidays.” He said that as a practical matter Yale has no ability to comply with the subpoena by Jan. 2, 2015, in part because the people who maintain the records will not be returning to work until Jan. 5.”

There was no indication from Noonan that this was the second time that Yale had been subpoenaed by the public defender’s office. Noonan made it clear that the subpoena signed and delivered on Dec. 23, was the only one the University received.

Yet at the Dec. 8 hearing, Dr. Wang and Jeffrey LaPierre, Dr. Wang’s stand-by public defender, both told the judge that Yale had failed to comply with a second subpoena request for Dr. Toor’s personnel and employment files. Dr. Wang even filed a motion to sanction Yale New Haven Hospital,” because the University had not complied.

The judge said at the Dec. 8 hearing that Yale, which typically answers subpoenas on time, be given another chance. LaPierre then said that Yale believed a court order was required for these records. The judge suggested that LaPierre make a call to Yale, asking their lawyers to deliver the records, sealed, to the judge. Okay?” the judge asked. Yes,” the stand-by counsel replied.

But no records arrived. It appears that the public defender’s office did not initiate a subpoena demand until two weeks after the Dec. 8 court hearing, on Dec. 23. There was no discussion of this disparity in court Friday. 

Major Legal Issues Put Over to February

Judge O’Keefe gave Dr. Wang until Feb. 4, the next tentatively set court hearing date, to answer Yale’s motion to quash. Then Dr. Wang and Attorney Noonan will argue the issue in court. The judge noted, the question of relevance is a real one here. You have to tell me the relevance. How this will help you with your case and how it will help the jury?” The judge also told Noonan he did not think Yale had to gather the Toor records just yet.

Also postponed until Feb. 4 is a major decision Dr. Wang must make. Dr. Wang had until Jan. 9 to decide his psychiatric defense. Dr. Wang is considering a defense of extreme emotional disturbance, but has not yet decided.

At the outset of the 25-minute court hearing, Dr. Wang sought an extension of the Jan. 9 deadline date set by the judge to announce his defense. The expert needs more time,” Dr. Wang explained. State’s Senior Attorney Eugene Calistro, Jr., did not object. LaPierre told the judge he will be away for three weeks in January.

The judge also pressed Dr. Wang on how far he had gotten in hiring an investigator for his case. Judge O’Keefe told Dr. Wang – who has no experience as an attorney – that his efforts with subpoenas will not yield results if he does not have an investigator to work with.

During his years in prison, Dr. Wang has submitted scores of motions regarding witnesses, often seeking information across state lines, all without the help of an investigator or other experts.

An investigator, the judge told Dr. Wang would help pare down his witness list because the investigator would first interview potential witnesses, the judge said.

Dr. Wang’s preliminary witness list includes Dr. Toor’s widow, whom he allegedly shot at that morning, and Dr. Toor’s brother. In addition, Dr. Wang lists more than 30 other officials, mostly doctors and others affiliated with Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York where Dr. Toor and Dr. Wang once worked. A workplace dispute between Dr. Wang and Dr. Toor that led to Dr. Wang’s firing from Kingsbrook is believed to be the motive for the crime.

The judge explained to Dr. Wang how an investigator works. You discuss the case with an investigator. He makes visits and then reports back to you. Then you can see where the case is going. There is not going to be any progress in this case until there is an investigator.”

Dr. Wang observed that he had interviewed an investigator, but was concerned because the investigator had a background as a police officer.” This did not sit well with Dr. Wang, he said. But, the judge explained that most investigators are former detectives or police officers. That is how they get their training,” he explained to Dr. Wang. 

At a court hearing in 2011, Superior Court Judge Roland D. Fasano noted that Dr. Wang, who grew up in China, is mistrustful of government attorneys, either public defenders or state prosecutors, because each is paid by the state.
 
Dr. Wang told Judge O’Keefe he was concerned that the investigator may have pre-judged his case. Then the judge told LaPierre that an investigator was needed by Feb. 4. If you don’t want this one, start looking for another investigator,” he said. 

Next came the issue of payment, one that was raised at a prior hearing. Dr. Wang noted that the public defender’s office, which is paying the costs of Dr. Wang’s pro-se defense, will only pay an investigator $35 an hour. That seemed low to Dr. Wang. The judge agreed. 

Judge O’Keefe observed that the Supreme Court of the State of Connecticut had said that Dr. Wang was entitled to a defense and that the public defender’s office had to pay for it. I can’t let the fee schedule of the public defender trump the supreme court of the state,” he said, adding if need be he will do something about it

Thank you, your honor, Dr. Wang replied.
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