People of Faith CT

By BILL LEUKHARDT

Hartford Courant Article

August 18, 2008



NEW BRITAIN — - Eduardo Moreno, teen father and domestic violence defendant, smiled Thursday as he heard his fate in Superior Court — a suspended, one-year prison term and two years of probation.

"How's the program?" Judge Thomas O'Keefe asked Moreno, starting a barrage of questions about the 18 months of a pretrial program Moreno is in to help curtail his substance abuse and violent tendencies. "It didn't seem to hurt you, right? You can't be a good father if you use illegal substances."



"It worked out good for me," said a smiling Moreno, happy as he walked out of court to report to probation before leaving the courthouse.



Two years ago, when his legal troubles began with a now ex-girlfriend, Moreno racked up criminal charges — including risk of injury to a child and violation of a protective order — that could have put him behind bars for more than a decade.



But he got another chance when his cases went onto a special domestic violence docket that combines strict supervision, pretrial programs, victim advocacy and defendant accountability. The payoff can be a suspended sentence and eventual dismissal of charges if the defendant takes responsibility and cleans up his or her life.



The program, begun a decade ago, is now in seven judicial districts. As of Thursday, there were nearly 6,000 cases pending on those dockets statewide. About 70 percent of the defendants are male; 30 percent female.



Moreno's three cases were among the 98 heard Thursday in Superior Court in New Britain, which has 453 cases pending.
If he stays clean and out of trouble for two years, all of his charges will be dismissed.



"The program I'm in, it makes me aware about family violence abuse and how to control your anger," Moreno said. "I'm taking consequences for my action and not blaming others. I got my daughter with me now. I don't ever want to come back here."



That's the point of the docket. It's a tough goal for people quick to settle arguments with fists, drugs and booze.



"It's all about accountability," O'Keefe said Thursday in his office after wrapping up the docket.



The approach is less fire-and-brimstone, but no one gets a pass or is coddled, O'Keefe said. Defendants not only have to want to change, they have to change to earn a more lenient sentence, he said.



Cases are screened, and some people are too dangerous or have charges too serious to make it onto the domestic violence docket, said O'Keefe, who has presided over the New Britain docket for a year.



The key is stricter supervision of cases, which includes contact with victims and defendants, said Elizabeth Moseley, main prosecutor in the New Britain docket since its start in 2006.



Each week, the cases for that Thursday are discussed by a team consisting of her and representatives from adult probation, family relations, victim advocates and other court support services.



There's talk about progress or lack of it and any new arrests of defendants. The team gets a lot of help from Moseley's investigator, Bill Durkin, a retired New Britain police officer.



The teams stays in touch with victims, getting updates about family behavior, she said.



Defendants are on a tight leash, working on ending drinking and addictions first if necessary before tackling anger and other destructive behaviors, she said.



People who don't take pretrial programs seriously or who get in new legal trouble are usually taken off the domestic violence docket and their cases are moved to regular court.



"You have to earn your place on the domestic docket," Moseley said. "It's all about taking responsibility and being accountable for your actions. Much of the violence in these cases is witnessed by children. That's serious."



Lawrence Hauser, a Superior Court judge involved in the state domestic violence docket since its start a decade ago, said victim safety and abuser accountability are the goals, but it's difficult for a judge to see those reached in many cases.



"It's a very difficult assignment that's high risk, low reward," Hauser said. " You're making so many decisions, [such] as whether to believe a recalcitrant witness who is asking for the guy out on bond. Why is she pleading with you? Is it fear? Is it money? Is it the kids?"



Kelly Goulet, a public defender in New Britain court for 15 years, had about a dozen cases on Thursday's domestic violence docket.



"I had my most successful day. Four of my clients completed treatment successfully and got suspended sentences," she said. "These cases are so complex and have such a high emotional content that they move very slowly."



Numerous cases Thursday involved discussions with defendants about progress and continuances to new court dates. A father of two was allowed out on bail, but ordered not to live in the family home while his pretrial treatment begins. So he hugged his wife and two daughters in the courthouse lobby before they went their separate ways.



Some people got stern warnings.



"If you slap someone, that's against the law. That's third-degree assault," O'Keefe told one young man.



Another young man with numerous pending cases won permission to be released, under 24-hour electronic monitoring, to his grandmother's home.



"You have to stay in her home and follow her rules," O'Keefe said. "If she tells you to turn off the TV, you gotta do it. But if she tells you to take out the trash, don't take out the trash. If she tells you to walk the dog, don't walk the dog. You don't leave the house."



To a man arrested four times for fighting with his brother's caretaker, O'Keefe said, "This is a mess. It's frustrating. But you created this mess."



He told another man accused of pestering relatives to sit in court for five minutes to give his accusers time to leave the building.



"I don't want you arguing on the front steps of the courthouse."



Before O'Keefe gave Jeffrey Goodwin a suspended sentence and releasing him on probation, he asked a woman in the courtroom about that outcome for the man arrested in March for fighting with her and her teenage daughter in Wethersfield. She said yes.



Outside the courtroom, the woman said Goodwin's progress in pretrial substance abuse and domestic violence program gave her "everything I hoped for. I was looking to the legal system for treatment for him. The judge was excellent."



Is she going to take him back into her life?



"I'm praying about that," she said.