Suuuuuuuure. We'll be right over to pick up the guns.
And we'll explain the straight forward way this will be
handled.
It won't be confusing at all.
Can you say boys and girls?
Posted on 07/08/2013 5:53:49 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
Since his wife died in 2003, James Hasselbacher has faced 10 years of very few highs and numerous lows.
Without any children or family to lean on for support, he went into a downward spiral. The drug Valium helped numb the pain — and, in some ways, became his best friend. His career as a respiratory therapist went down the tubes, as did relationships with friends. He hit rock bottom in January when, at age 62, he found himself living in his car and motels.
James had been to rehab and a drug treatment facility; unfortunately, insurance covered only the first two weeks.
Determined to get clean he went to Geneva General Hospital to detox. Standard procedure for treatment includes a psychiatric evaluation, during which the topic of suicide was raised. James admits he has had such thoughts in the past but says it is not an issue now.
The doctor asked if he owned any weapons; James said he did. The doctor asked if he was willing to voluntarily turn them in to the hospital, anonymously; James agreed, as long as he wouldn’t get into any trouble. He had legally registered the guns in Oregon when he lived there, but had not re-registered them after moving to New York less than two years ago.
James said a hospital social worker called the Geneva Police Department to ask if the guns could be turned in anonymously. James was told they could be. I have heard the taped recording between Geneva police and social worker and can confirm this arrangement was in place.
Police arrived at the hospital the same day and asked Robert Colton, head of hospital security, to have James sign a voluntary, consent-to-search form. Colton took the guns from a suitcase and brought them to the waiting police officers.
Seven days later James was set to be discharged. He asked Colton for the keys to his car, which were under the care of the hospital. Within 30 minutes Geneva police arrived and arrested him in his hospital room, charging him with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felony.
James is being represented by Ontario County Public Defender Carrie Bleakley, who feels there is much to be questioned about how the case has been handled.
First, James insists that nowhere on the form did it say he was waiving his rights and could be prosecuted (the Finger Lakes Times has seen a copy of the consent form). Nor was he verbally warned.
Second, the form James signed listed Colton as a witness; the copy Bleakley later received also listed Geneva PD Sgt. Tyler Turner as a witness. James said Turner wasn’t there at the time the form was signed.
Bleakley wonders if Colton was acting, in essence, as an agent of the police, and if he may have also violated HIPAA laws. Given the timing of James’ discharge and the arrest in his hospital room, Bleakley speculates that Colton was the one who alerted the police.
Bleakley says that at Hasselbacher’s initial court appearance Ontario County Assistant District Attorney James Ritts claimed the guns were in full view at the hospital, and that Hasselbacher threatened employees at the facility. The hospital records Bleakley obtained do not indicate Hasselbacher made threats to anyone.
Bail was set at $15,000 cash or $30,000 bond. Hasselbacher was remanded to the Ontario County Jail, where he stayed for five months.
With no immediate family to help, James saw his financial situation implode while he was incarcerated. No one could pay his bills for him. His vehicle was repossessed.
Ritts told Bleakley that any plea agreement must go through county District Attorney R. Michael Tantillo; Tantillo has refused to deal in this case. He wants James to plead guilty — second-degree criminal possession of a weapon carries a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years, along with five years of post-release supervision.
According to Bleakley, Hasselbacher’s record contains only a reckless driving conviction in 1977. Bleakley said Tantillo told her the incident at the hospital isn’t the one that concerned him. She said she subpoenaed Hasselbacher’s personnel records from when he worked at GGH, indicating there is no mention of him making any threats while he was employed there.
When Bleakley mentioned the latter fact to Tantillo, she says he declined to discuss the case any further. Several motions were made to have the case dismissed due to Ritts’ failure to instruct the grand jury as to the exemption under the Penal Law eliminating criminal liability when guns are voluntarily surrendered to a police agent in the defendant’s jurisdiction. County Judge Frederick Reed agreed, dismissing the indictment. Good news, right?
Not really. It was a dismissal without prejudice, a legal term meaning Reed could allow the case to be resubmitted to the grand jury with appropriate instructions. Ritts did so June 25; Bleakley says she expects Hasselbacher to be re-indicted tomorrow. Reed has since reduced bail to $1,500 after Bleakley argued that given time served and the indictment being overturned, a more reasonable bail seemed fair.
Bleakley says she can’t find case law supporting Hasselbacher: Why would anyone take issue with someone voluntarily turning in a gun?
Bleakley said in past gun-related situations the DA’s office has plea-bargained, including the case of a South Carolina man who left his gun under a pillow at a Victor motel earlier this year. That man also didn’t have a permit for the gun, but was charged with only a misdemeanor. His bail was $500 cash or $1,000 bond. Bleakley said Hasselbacher would agree to a plea bargain of a misdemeanor with time served.
Readers may not know that district attorneys and assistant DAs take an oath of office different from any other job of lawyer, one that states finding proper justice trumps overzealously advocating for a particular client. The oath requires the prosecutor to look out for the interests of all the people, meaning the victims and the accused.
Bleakley finds it puzzling that Tantillo will not release the arrest report for this case. She thinks the facts are clear, and that the arrest report may contain information either dubious or fabricated. The first chance Bleakley will have to see the report is at trial — during testimony of narrative, with no time to prepare adequate cross-examine if needed.
A recent example of a DA honoring his oath is Wayne County DA Rick Healy, who asked for a case be dismissed involving Clyde resident Jesse Daniels. Daniels caught four youngsters vandalizing a home and locked them in a closet until the police came — yet was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. In the interests of justice, Healy’s office asked that the case be dismissed, and it was.
Bleakley said she wonders about the message Tantillo sends if people voluntarily surrender illegal guns only to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Hasselbacher would not have these problems if he had just lied and said he didn’t have any guns. However, would that have been the right thing to do?
Notes: • The Geneva Police Department referred all questions on this matter to Ritts. • In an email, Ritts’ replied to questions with this: “Under the NY Rules of professional conduct, with certain exceptions, I am not permitted to comment on pending litigation. That is especially true of matters involving evidentiary inquiry. This matter will be litigated in County Court where I am confident your questions will be answered.” • Tantillo did not respond to my questions. • Geneva General Hospital declined comment on Hasselbacher’s stay at the hospital.
By SPENCER TULIS nyp2904@yahoo.com | Posted: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 10:39 am
This is no longer my country. Evil rules and everyone else steps aside and doesn’t want to help.
5 months in jail, for what !?!?
none of their effing business. start asking them about all their weapons. if they say no ask if you ca come to their house and just look around to see if they’re hiding any.
Wow. Police state.
Right up your alley, Q-ManRN.
Suuuuuuuure. We'll be right over to pick up the guns.
And we'll explain the straight forward way this will be
handled.
It won't be confusing at all.
Can you say boys and girls?
How does this pass the rules of discovery.
In a state like New York or New Jersey absolutely.
Tantillo has been sued in the past for withholding evidence. But he has a D after his name. And this NY
The answer you give when asked if you own any guns is NO.
1st RULE: You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB.
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB.
3rd RULE: You DO NOT talk about GUNS YOU OWN.
Like some in the thread are saying, don’t talk about your guns. After all, the 2nd is there to protect the 1st.
I’m with you. We have no obligation to follow immoral and unconstitutional laws. In fact we have an obligation to try to correct them.
3 things here (IMHO):
1. Never discuss anything non-medical-related with an agent of the government healthcare system; you never know what they’re obligated to do (it WAS 1200 pages + and no one read it, plus 1000s of HHS regs).
2. Anything involving weapons and agents of government police, local or otherwise, should always involve an attorney.
3. Fantasies of The Punisher meting justice color my view of the evening’s setting sun...
But...isn't that now a requisite obligation and oath of LE and .guv?
"Just following orders"...hmmm...never heard of that before.
I digress. Don't tell authorities in NY if you have guns brought from another state.
It really was horrible when my father died and within 3 days there's NY state demanding his handguns, antique and all from my mother. She cried so hard.
1) NEVER ADMIT TO ANYTHING
2) NEVER INVITE THE MAN INTO YOUR LIFE
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