This site exists as a warning to the residents of Norwalk, Connecticut, and more broadly the citizens of the State of Connecticut, of some grievous threats to their liberty, their property, and perhaps even their lives. Think I exaggerate? Perhaps I'm just a wack-job with an axe to grind, a conspiracy theorist, or a loser with nothing better to do than to hold forth on the web looking for my fifteen minutes of fame? I assure you, neighbors, neither myself nor my wife are any of these things; we're no different than you, citizens of the State of Connecticut wanting to go about our business and live our lives with a minimum of trouble from or with anyone; we are ordinary, everyday people in every way.
So, What Are These Threats of Which I Speak?
To put a fine point on it, the City of Norwalk, Connecticut has a bald-faced liar on their streets with a badge on his chest and protected from prosecution by qualified immunity. His name is Jared Zwickler (he's the one with his hand raised). You also have two black-robed martinets and a halfwit assistant prosecutor in the GA20 courthouse who don't give a rip about the Truth, Due Process or the Law. What they do care about is keeping the truth which reflects so badly on themselves and the Norwalk Police Department, from you, the public. More on these three later.
Let me explain; first, read this short sequence of events which led to a false arrest, a home invasion and a theft of personal property (false arrest and illegal search and seizure, in legal parlance) which took place on February 16, 2011. Then, just hit the back button and I'll continue.
Who Am I?
Now, folks, the closest I've ever been to a jail prior to this occurence was on a tour of one as a nine-year-old kid. I'm fifty-seven years old, and I'd managed to live the first fifty-six years of my life without any interaction with law enforcement more serious than a moving violation, and the last of those was more than thirteen years ago. I'm a United States Navy Vietnam-era veteran (a Hospital Corpsman, not corpse-man), and a software engineer for more than thirty years. I was raised by great parents (dad was a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot through two wars, and mom was a legal secretary). The father of my best buddy as a kid was an LAPD cop; I watched him rise from patrolman to Lieutenant of Detectives. My buddy's big brother himself became a cop in the same department as his father. I was taught early and often to always trust and respect police officers, and for the first fifty-six years of my life, I did; no longer! I will never again give a cop the benefit of the doubt, for either their motives or for their knowledge of the law.
Why Should You Care About This?
The Answer to that should be pretty obvious; what was done and is being done to me could be done to you! After reading the facts, you should be asking yourself if Norwalk, or any other city, can afford to have a liar on our streets, wearing a badge, protected from prosecution by qualified immunity, and actively aided and abetted by the mayor of Norwalk, the Norwalk Police Department, two Superior Court judges, and an assistant prosecutor, all of whom are fully aware of what he did, and all of whom have played fast and loose with the law, due process and ethics rules!
Zwickler has demonstrated a willingness to lie to make up cause to arrest people! He did so once; he will do so again; to you! After more than 15 months, I am still dealing with what clearly amounts to malicious prosecution for the express purpose of protecting a 'dirty' cop, the city of Norwalk, the Norwalk Police Department and the State of Connecticut from the consequences of police and judicial misconduct. This is a common tactic on the part of the "authorities"; involve someone in needless and costly litigation in an effort to run the defendant out of money to defend themselves, and it is criminal.
Ok, So What Did This Zwickler Do??
In a nutshell, upon listening to this voicemail at the doctor's office, pieced together two unrelated facts as a pretext on which to arrest me, seize my and my wife's personal property, and charge me with Threatening. Then, knowing how weak his probable cause was, he told two bald-faced lies in his "incident report" in an attempt to justify his unlawful actions, and attributed those lies to a person in the medical office from whom a statement was never taken, and who later testified under oath were not true. In fact, the sworn testimony of all three prosecution witnesses clearly shows that Zwickler lied brazenly to make up a reason to arrest me, invade my home and steal my and my wife's property.
FACT #1: I lawfully owned and bore a sidearm for self-defense purposes; so does my wife (this becomes critically important later). Why do we choose to keep and bear arms? In a word, Cheshire; this should tell you all you need to know about how much confidence the people of this state can have in the competence of our sterling state officials, and all you need to know about why we would both choose to keep and bear arms.
FACT #2: I was upset with the convicted felon "Doctor", and had told him politely but firmly that I'd be coming for what he owed me, and that it 'wouldn't be pretty'.
Ok, Doutel; put up or shut up!
The proof of all of the above lies in Zwickler's "incident report", his testimony under oath, and the testimony of all three prosecution witnesses which directly contradicts Zwickler's incident report. Now, the "incident report" filed by Zwickler, my chief accusor, cannot itself be posted without getting my attorney, Rachel M. Baird, in some hot water for not complying with some nonsense in the "Practice Book". But fear not! We've done the next best thing. On April 5th, 2012, Attorney Baird filed a motion with the court to provide disclosure of said "incident report" to me, and hence the public. In this motion, Zwickler's false statements are directly quoted from his "incident report". This motion can be posted, and I provide it for your perusal here. At that time, Attorney Baird was told in chambers by Judge Hudock that the motion would be heard at a May 7th , 2012 appearance. You may also be interested in perusing the above-mentioned testimony of Igal Staw, Sandy Staw and Jeanine Roy which gives the lie to Zwickler's "incident report".
At our last appearance on May 7th, 2012, at which time we expected to have this motion heard per Bruce Hudock's word, upon entering the courtroom, we were told by Hudock that the motion would in fact not be heard; that instead, it would be heard in five months time, one day past the date on which a speedy trial would have had to have been held by law! In reading the above-linked transcript, it should be noted how hard Hudock works to find the very latest possible date on which to hear the motion which was supposed to have been heard on May 7th. So, Hudock told my attorney one thing in chambers and something completely different in open court. It's pretty obvious that Hudock read the motion, and seeing that its contents clearly indict Zwickler for his deliberate dishonesty, decided once again to protect the miscreant cop from the opprobrium which would surely have ensued. Excuse me, but aren't judges supposed to be impartial, favoring neither the defense nor the prosecution?
About Bruce Hudock
You should probably also be made aware of some facts about Judge Bruce Hudock, a watery-eyed man with an unkempt, scraggly beard, a dirty robe and a distinct aversion to looking people in the eye. You're not going to find a lot about him if you Google for him, which is probably a pretty good indication that his career has been entirely unremarkable.
Just last year, Hudock is the very same judge who denied Walter Reddy, a man who had commited no crime whatsoever, an attorney at his hearing, with the statement that "I'm ready to rule right now!" You can read that transcript here.