QUOTE ONE OF THE DAY: (This may ultimately win the Charles Smith Blog award for outrageous quote of the year. HL) From THOMAS Gerarde, the lawyer representing the City of New Haven:
“Let’s not let anger decide us, let’s not base this on sympathy and let common sense decide what we are doing,” Gerarde said. “There’s no evidence where the city should have to pay anything. Be cool, calm and collected.”
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QUOTE TWO OF THE DAY: "Brustin asked jurors to consider what 21 years of a man’s life is worth — $2 million, $3 million a year? But he argued the deeper loss was everything Morant missed outside prison walls, including the deaths of his father, brother and eventually his son, Christian, who developed a drug addiction not long after Morant was released from prison 11 years ago. “All he endured on the inside paled in comparison to what he was missing on the outside,” Brustin said. “He would have given the rest of his teeth [Morant lost five while incarcerated] for a few more minutes with his baby brother and his child that died. Imagine living wondering if you had been there when your son was growing up you might have been able to save him.”
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THIRD QUOTE OF THE DAY: "In closing arguments, the four attorneys representing the city and the four officers argued that their clients shouldn’t be held liable and criticized the $60 million figure suggested as potential payment to Morant. Attorney Thomas Gerarde, who is representing the city, said the jury shouldn’t base their decision on “sympathy and anger.” Gerarde said there was “some shock value” to the numbers thrown out by Morant’s lawyers but that the jury shouldn’t let emotions affect their decision. “Let’s not let anger decide us, let’s not base this on sympathy and let common sense decide what we are doing,” Gerarde said. “There’s no evidence where the city should have to pay anything. Be cool, calm and collected.”
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "Morant is suing the city of New Haven and four former police detectives — Vincent Raucci, Vaughan Maher, Michael Sweeney and Robert Lawlor individually — claiming Raucci coerced him to make a statement implicating himself and another man — Scott Lewis — in the October 1990 murders of city alderman Ricardo Turner and his partner Lamont Fields. Morant also claims Raucci threatened two key witnesses with million-dollar bonds and possible murder charges unless they changed their statements to identify Lewis and Morant as the culprits. Both later recanted. The lawsuit alleges that the detectives routinely coerced witnesses, fabricated evidence and withheld exculpatory evidence during homicide investigations, and that city officials, particularly then-Police Chief Nicholas Pastore either condoned or failed to stop it. Morant served more than 21 years in prison for the murders before being released after state prosecutors acknowledged in open court that the investigation against him was tainted. Morant was eventually pardoned."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Brustin asked jurors to consider what 21 years of a man’s life is worth — $2 million, $3 million a year? But he argued the deeper loss was everything Morant missed outside prison walls, including the deaths of his father, brother and eventually his son, Christian, who developed a drug addiction not long after Morant was released from prison 11 years ago. “All he endured on the inside paled in comparison."
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"STORY: "Lawyers Ask Jury to Hold New Haven Accountable for Wrongful Conviction, 21 Years Behind Bars," by Reporter Dave Altimari, published by The Connecticut Examiner, on May 26, 2026; (Dave Altimari joined CT Examiner in 2026 after spending 23 years with the Hartford Courant and more than four years with CT Mirror. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize (2026) with Ginny Monk, Sophie Chou and Haru Coryne.)
GIST: "Attorneys for Stefon Morant urged jurors Tuesday to hold city officials accountable for ignoring years of police misconduct, arguing that New Haven should pay up to $60 million for the 21 years Morant spent behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit.
“The city is hoping to walk away with a slap on the wrist and no accountability,” attorney Nicholas Brustin said during closing arguments in U.S. District Court in Hartford. “If ever there was a case that screams out for full accountability it is this one. You have seen vividly what happens when rules don’t matter to a police department and misconduct is allowed to go unchecked.”
"Brustin asked jurors to consider what 21 years of a man’s life is worth — $2 million, $3 million a year? But he argued the deeper loss was everything Morant missed outside prison walls, including the deaths of his father, brother and eventually his son, Christian, who developed a drug addiction not long after Morant was released from prison 11 years ago.
“All he endured on the inside paled in comparison to what he was missing on the outside,” Brustin said. “He would have given the rest of his teeth [Morant lost five while incarcerated] for a few more minutes with his baby brother and his child that died. Imagine living wondering if you had been there when your son was growing up you might have been able to save him.”
Morant is suing the city of New Haven and four former police detectives — Vincent Raucci, Vaughan Maher, Michael Sweeney and Robert Lawlor individually — claiming Raucci coerced him to make a statement implicating himself and another man — Scott Lewis — in the October 1990 murders of city alderman Ricardo Turner and his partner Lamont Fields.
Morant also claims Raucci threatened two key witnesses with million-dollar bonds and possible murder charges unless they changed their statements to identify Lewis and Morant as the culprits. Both later recanted.
The lawsuit alleges that the detectives routinely coerced witnesses, fabricated evidence and withheld exculpatory evidence during homicide investigations, and that city officials, particularly then-Police Chief Nicholas Pastore either condoned or failed to stop it.
Morant served more than 21 years in prison for the murders before being released after state prosecutors acknowledged in open court that the investigation against him was tainted. Morant was eventually pardoned.
In closing arguments, the four attorneys representing the city and the four officers argued that their clients shouldn’t be held liable and criticized the $60 million figure suggested as potential payment to Morant.
Attorney Thomas Gerarde, who is representing the city, said the jury shouldn’t base their decision on “sympathy and anger.” Gerarde said there was “some shock value” to the numbers thrown out by Morant’s lawyers but that the jury shouldn’t let emotions affect their decision.
“Let’s not let anger decide us, let’s not base this on sympathy and let common sense decide what we are doing,” (The City's Lawyer) Gerarde said. “There’s no evidence where the city should have to pay anything. Be cool, calm and collected.”
Gerarde highlighted that every officer who testified said Pastore had no direct involvement in the Morant investigation.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that Pastore ever got involved with Raucci, Sweeney or Maher and said don’t worry guys you can fabricate evidence and take a false statement and get away with it,” he said.
Gerarde argued Pastore was overseeing a department of more than 400 police officers and didn’t have time to micromanage homicide investigations, even a high-profile one such as the Turner/Fields case.
He also accused Morant’s attorneys of trying to trick some of the officers by asking rapid-fire questions designed to put words in their mouths.
“It was not a fair fight. These old guys who have been off the job for 30 years are no match for the kind of peppering they got from these attorneys,” Gerarde said.
Gerarde had one hour for his closing argument, while the three attorneys representing the officers had a half hour each.
Attorney James Tallberg, representing Raucci, also questioned some of the tactics by Morant’s attorneys, specifically the decision to call Raucci’s ex-wife Donna Desai as a witness, who testified Raucci was a drug addict and threatened her.
“Litigation can be rough, but I would suggest that dragging in the ex-wife was pretty low,” Tallberg said. “Despite all the name calling and mud thrown at Raucci, he did not engage in any of the things he has been accused of.’
Tallberg also addressed the $60 million figure, and instead suggested between $2 million and $10 million was a more reasonable range.
“Rather than grab a number out of the air, what amount of money could possibly make Mr. Morant whole?” Tallberg said.
Morant and his attorneys have acknowledged that, without former detective Sweeney, Morant may have never been freed. Years earlier, Sweeney contacted Morant’s attorney and said the conviction was based on statements taken by Raucci, who allegedly fed witnesses the information he wanted them to repeat.
Still, Sweeney is a defendant in the lawsuit because he failed to report knowledge that Raucci had coerced Orville Ruiz — a key witness who first identified Lewis and Morant as being involved in the homicide — and never wrote a report or told prosecutors his concerns.
His attorney, Michael T. Ryan, argued that Sweeney advised Raucci to stop feeding witnesses information. Ryan also said Sweeney didn’t participate in any interviews, was not involved in the case, and therefore isn’t liable for Morant’s conviction.
“Nothing Sweeney did contributed to Morant’s conviction. At best, it was trivial and inconsequential to what happened,” Ryan said.
Attorney William J. Melley III, who is representing Lawlor and Maher, went last among the defendants’ attorneys.
He called Lawlor a “man of principle.”
He pointed to a discrepancy in Sweeney’s trial testimony regarding a conversation he had with Lawlor about Raucci’s interview with Ruiz. Sweeney had previously testified that he warned Lawlor about Raucci feeding Ruiz information about the homicide, and that Lawlor said nothing.
But in the current trial, Sweeney testified Lawlor acknowledged Sweeney’s warning and assumed it was going to be addressed.
“Sweeney never before said that Lawlor acknowledged him, and now he says 35 years later he tells a different story,” Melley said.
As for Maher, Melley admitted Maher “made some mistakes” during testimony but blamed it on the rapid-fire questioning designed to confuse him. He said Maher had been transferred to a different unit by the time Lewis and Morant were arrested.
“He had nothing to do with the preparation of the arrest warrant or the investigation after he left,” Melley said.
Brustin said only Sweeney has ever taken any accountability for what happened to Morant.
“They didn’t care about him in 1991 and they don’t care about him today, but you can only imagine what his life would have become given his resilience,” Brustin said. “You have seen in court that Mr. Morant is a man of faith and now he puts his faith in you.”
The jury will begin deliberations Wednesday.""
The entire story can be read at:
dave.altimari@ctexaminer.com lawyers-ask-jury-to-hold-new-haven-accountable-for-wrongful-conviction-21-years-behind-bars
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
