Monday, June 29, 2009

Public Defender Cleared Of Charges

By DOUGLAS S. MALAN

Supervisory Public Defender Elisa Villa was cleared of all charges last week
stemming from her arrest after an unusual confrontation in a Bristol
courthouse earlier this year.

In a brief court proceeding, Waterbury Superior Court Judge Frank A.
Iannotti granted a motion by Villa's attorney to dismiss all charges. Those
charges included breach of peace, interfering with a peace officer and
hindering a prosecution by a peace officer.

"It's a successful resolution to the case," said Edward J. Gavin, who
represented Villa. The state's attorney's office "saw the legal issues and
the claims and acted with all reason."

Deputy Chief State's Attorney Paul Murray, who prosecuted the case for the
state, declined comment.

Villa was arrested this spring after a confrontation with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who attempted to take Anselmo
Antonio-Valerian into custody during a court appearance on a minor traffic
violation.

Judicial marshals at the courthouse claimed that Villa was interfering with
ICE agents by keeping Antonio-Valerian in the public defender's office.
State police were called and when ICE agents got access to Antonio-Valerian
in the hallway, the police claimed that Villa, who is about 5-foot-2 and 115
pounds, pushed one of the officers.

Attorney David Peck, who represented Antonio-Valerian, said he never saw
Villa push anyone. Gavin continues to deny the shoving incident happened and
said the breach of peace charge was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Gavin noted the other charges were dropped because, by statute, ICE agents
are not considered peace officers, and therefore the charges did not apply.