With Permission
Dr. Toor and Son
At the outset of a hearing in Superior Court yesterday for accused murderer Dr. Lishan Wang, Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford asked the orange jumpsuit-clad defendant: “How did it go?”
Yesterday was a better day than the last time the court system attempted to grapple with Dr. Wang, an indigent defendant who has insisted on representing himself in court rather than accept a court-appointed lawyer.
Judge Clifford has been trying to find ways to give the pro se defendant the tools he needs. It has not been easy. (Click here to read about that.)
Judge Clifford reported yesterday that Dr. Wang had been placed in a room at the courthouse and finally given a laptop computer so he can work on his case. That happened with the help of Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Eugene Calistro, Jr., who is trying to find ways to move along the stalled three-year-old murder case.
The judge had seen to it that Dr. Wang arrived at the courthouse in the morning, hours before the 2 p.m. hearing,. This time it worked better than last time.
“Yes,” said Dr. Wang. And he thanked the judge for helping him.
“But … ” Dr. Wang said.
There is always a but, the judge noted.
Dr. Wang said he wanted the judge to know that one of the officers would not remove his handcuffs. That makes it hard to use a computer. “This is common sense to take the handcuffs off,” he declared.
The judge observed that Jeff LaPierre, Dr. Wang’s stand-by public defender, had stepped in to fix things.
“It will never be perfect,” the judge said. “They are bending rules for me and for your stand-by attorney. We are making exceptions for you and that is not easy.”
Dr. Wang, 47, is charged with gunning down Dr. Vanjinder Toor (pictured above), one of his former colleagues at the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York. Dr. Toor, police said, was shot to death outside Dr. Toor’s Branford condo on April 26, 2010. He was 34, a father and a post-doctoral fellow at Yale when he was killed. His then pregnant wife witnessed the shooting. Police said she was shot at too, but Dr. Wang missed. Click here to read about the arrest.
Dr. Wang’s decision to dismiss the public defender’s office and represent himself has created strains within the court system. The public defender’s office has refused any funding, specifically for expert witnesses, and there seems to be no way to order them to do otherwise, even though this is a state-funded operation. The prison system seems unable to comply with the judge’s request for more access to a computer. The state Attorney General’s Office, which recently said it would help out, now has decided not to.
The result is a murder case that appears trapped in time, unable to move forward.
Yesterday was better, both the judge and Dr. Wang agreed. After his cuffs were removed he worked several hours and after the court hearing was over, he was given another hour.
But getting access to a computer at the MacDougall Correctional Institution in Suffield is another matter. Before the court session ended, Dr. Wang raised the issue of getting a computer at the prison.
LaPierre told the judge that the attorney general’s office does not want to get involved in the computer issue. Calistro said the AG’s office is “backing off.” Both attorneys suggested the prison warden would be the point person on deciding how Dr. Wang can gain access to a computer so that he might prepare for trial.
Judge Clifford said: “All I want to know is somebody is working on this.”
LaPierre said: “It looks like it’s the warden.”
At one point during the give and take between Dr. Wang and the judge, Clifford referred to Dr. Toor as the alleged victim. In the past Dr. Wang has complained that in using the term “victim” or “alleged victim” when speaking of Dr. Toor, the judge is showing bias because so far Dr. Wang stands accused, not convicted.
In his next reference, the judge decided to refer to Dr. Toor as “the deceased,” a description that may not do justice to the standing a victim has in the court system.
Dr. Wang also made three motions seeking various types of information for his trial. The first motion sought expert witness testimony in all cases his expert would have worked on. But because there is not yet an expert witness appointed by name and there is no funding for one, the judge said the motion was premature.
Dr. Wang’s second motion sought Dr. Toor’s motor vehicle records from 2002 to 2010 from the states of Texas, New York and Connecticut, places where Dr. Toor had lived. He also wanted information about his medical licenses. Dr. Wang said he needed the information for cross-examination and impeachment purposes. At one point the judge wondered aloud why Dr. Wang needed height information, for example. (Perhaps he would be saying that Dr. Toor was not Dr. Toor?)
Dr. Wang replied, as he has in the past, that he would not say why this information was relevant because “it might affect my defense.“
The judge replied that he thought Dr. Wang was engaging in a “fishing expedition.” He denied the motion.
The third motion sought information from the years 2005 to 2008 concerning Dr. Toor’s email correspondence, his performance evaluation at Kings brook Hospital, his rotation evaluations, what statements he made against other medical residents and any testimony from hearings, including depositions “and interviews about any disputes.”
“That’s a pretty broad request,” the judge said.
Dr. Wang said he needed to prepare his defense. Then he described an incident at Kingsbrook in which he was accused of poking someone in the eye with a pen. “That terminated my position at Kingsbrook,” he said.
Dr. Wang said that during his time at the hospital he was “abused, mistreated, discriminated against and wrongfully terminated …”
In the end the judge observed that Dr. Wang “wants to put the hospital on trial,” and that this motion was “overly broad.” Then he denied his third subpoena motion.
The judge set June 20 as the next court date. He told Dr. Wang no motion would be heard at this session. Instead, the judge said, he hopes to have a special public defender in court, an attorney who will represent Dr. Wang in possible appeals arguments before higher courts about how to fund experts for indigent defendants who insist on representing themselves.
Before court ended, Dr. Wang asked about an original birth certificate for his son that he needs to send to his wife in Georgia. The birth certificate was found in the van he drove from Georgia to Connecticut in April, 2010. Judge Roland D. Fasano, the previous judge on this case, had ordered it turned over to Dr. Wang. Calistro said he would inquire.
During the course of this conversation, the attorneys referred to funds found in the car, Chinese money and American money. Exactly how much was not disclosed.
The judge didn’t miss a beat. “Is it enough to hire a lawyer?” he asked.
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If Dr. Wang wants access to the kinds of resources a good trial lawyer would use to mount a vigorous defense, maybe he should accept the services of a good trial lawyer. Judge Clifford is making a heroic effort to be as accommodating as possible while Wang is wasting the time of the justice system.
Provide hard copies of everything the prosecution is required to disclose, a stack of legal pads and a box of soft-tip pens. Give him six months and then start the trial.