A letter and court statements by Madison County Assistant District Attorney Robert Mascari regarding Michael Stevens trial coverage by the Oneida Daily Dispatch.
A letter and court statements by Madison County Assistant District Attorney Robert Mascari regarding Michael Stevens trial coverage by the Oneida Daily Dispatch.
A letter and court statements by Madison County Assistant District Attorney Robert Mascari regarding Michael Stevens trial coverage by the Oneida Daily Dispatch.
A letter and court statements by Madison County Assistant District Attorney Robert Mascari regarding Michael Stevens trial coverage by the Oneida Daily Dispatch.
Mapison County
District ATTORNEY'S OFFICE,
nant rte
‘cont Rei Ante Si
= Hon, WILLIAM G. Gabor ia rat
pene District ATTORNEY ee
ae ep Vsernettencrl ling Tepe: ass66-296 Mem Ader
November
017
Th Oneida Daily Dispatch
130 Broad Street
(Omida, New York 13421
RE: People », Michael Stevens, Index No, 2016-0136
To the Editor:
| am weiting to express my continuing disgust that your paper ~ both in print and on the itemmet
continues to find it acceptable to publish the names of young children who have been victims of verbal
and physical aouse as evidenced by your recent articles on the Michael Stevens case,
By my count, Mr. Stevens" children were victimized at least three times by this criminal
prosecution. The first time was when their father decided to brutally attack their mother. The second
time was when it was necessary to put them on the witness stand in order to prove the case against Mr,
Stevens. The third and final time is when you decided to use their names in the ancl
‘The effect of your article was to subject innocent children to ridicule and shame in the
community. You re-victimized them with no apparent concern for their mental well-being. You caused
_an injury to these children that our office and the school distriet have done our best clean up. When
the objections of both our office and the Oneida City School Distriet were bluntly brought to your
attention, you continued to demonstrate your callousness by filing o address the issue, get back to us
with any reasoned response, and by continuing to write articles with the children's name in the story.
| find it beyond belief that your paper would engage in such conduct. It discredits everyone at
“your paper ané leaves me wondering ifthere isa single adult there withthe slightest bit of judgment. As
the famous songwriter Woody Guthrie once penned in "The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd”, “Some men
.will rob you with a shotgun and some with a fountain pen.” Your weapon of choice was the fountain
en, but it was ust as emotionally lethal to these children and you should be ashamed.[have enclosed my comments to the Court about your intial article. These comments were
made outside the presence of the jury. | invite you to publish ths leer and those comments. | fear you
Will not oF will edit them into maaninglessnere, but atleast Iwill know that I gave you the opportnity
todo the right thing for once in this case,
Sincerely,
ROBERT A. MASCARI
(Chief Assistant District Attorney
Ene.
ce. Mary Margaret Zehr (w/ ene.)
‘Superintendent ~ Oneida City School Disteiet
Hon. Patrick J. O°Sullivan (w/ ene.)
Madison County Court Judge
John Respante. Eag.(/ ene.)
‘Attorney for Michael Stevens
Hon, William G. Gabor (w/ ene.)
Madison County District Attomey10
n
12
aa
14
16
ry
18
as
20
aa
22
23
24
25
COUNTY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
couNtY OF MADISON
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK,
Index Wo. 2016-0136
> against - (excerpt from Jury Trial)
MICHAEL S. STEVENS,
Defendant,
Madison County Courthouse
181 Kenwood avenue
oneide, wew York 13421
october 26, 2017
BEFORE: HONORABLE PATRICK J. 0'SULLIVAN,
Judge Presiding
APPEARANCES
WILLIAN G. GABOR, ESQ,
District attorney Madison County
BY: ROBERT A. MASCARI, E50.
Assistant District Attorney
JOHN J. RASPANTE, ESQ
Avtorney for the Defendant
(Defendant present.)
MICHELLE L. CHRIST, Official Court Reporter2
a MR. MASCARI: Judge, the reason I'm late this
2 morning, and it's with great reluctance thet I ask The Court
3 to indulge me for a few minutes and I woule ask that this be
4 marked Court's a.
5 THE COURT: okay.
‘ MR. MASCARI While I'm having that marked, 1
7 actually had other copies made and I'm providing one to Mr:
8 Raspante because I feel one, what I'm asking to have marked.
9 a5 Court's A needs to be addressed by The Court with the
10 jury, at least by way of a general admonition about reading
newspaper articles; and two, the article has left me in such
12 a state of distress that were it not for the fact that we
a3 are going to be Listening and watching a video, 1 would
Ma honestly be asking The Court to put trial off today
18 The comments I'm about to make, and I will tell the
16 reporter already, that T wish that a transcript be made as
u s00n a5 possible so that the appropriate tine, pezhaps the
18 Oneida Dispatch will have the good grace to publish ay
a9 comments.
20 What I would say for the record, Judge, I grew up
2 in an environment that distrusted attorneys somewhat.
22 Because my father was in law enforcenent, he sometimes told
23 fhe attorneys had a way of hiding the truth. He sometimes
24 told me that prosecutors had @ way of screwing up good
25 cases. But he respected attorneys. and, of course, the10
n
a
aa
aa
16
a
18
as
20
22
23
24
words he used were a little more colorful than I'm putting
on the record right now.
He was both shocked and pleased when I decided to
become an attorney. For 28 years I've been an attorney, and
in an age when we're not always respected, I've loved it and
I know that both Mr. Raspante and The Court have treated the
practice of law in the sane way.
And I think one of swe obligations in being an
attorney is to deal openly and honestly and candidly wi:
the press. And in my 30 years, 35 years, I'm always
endeavored to do that in a way that was professional,
ethical and protected the rights of victims. There is no
bigger fan of the First Amendment than me
With that background, I woke to discover and to be
contacted by the superintendent of Oneida Schools that there
is an article in the Oneida Dispatch this morning that can
only be classified as child abuse, plain and simple; an
article about our trial where the Oneida Oiepatch had the
complete lack of professional judgment to publish the names
of those two young, innocent female witnesses who had to
testify in this trial the other day. And in doing so, to
reflect how they were on the stand and to reflect that their
parents use drugs and have abused each other.
Bt ds wrong on every level. We are talking about
the fifth estate who will do so much to protect the right ofa0
a
a2
14
as
16
uv
18
a
20
a
22
23
2
28
sources, to protect the rights of defendants, to seemingly
be the guardian of the public's morals and good judgment and
yet they could publish an article that is an act of child
abuse. It is wrong on every level. It was unprofessional
and it leaves me shaking with anger.
When X learned of this and spoke to the
superintendent and learned that they are meeting this
morning to try and figure out sone way to minimize the
damage to these children, I expressed my outrage and
immediately called the Oneida Dispatch, spoke to a managing
editor, was very blunt in my absolute horror, disgust and
revulsion at the article that they decided to print, asking
then, doss your reporter not have any judgment and do you
not have an editor above that reporter that has the
slightest bit of juagment.
Tt was at least conveyed to me that steps would be
taken
mediately to try to rectify the best we can. once
Something is in print, what again, as I say, is an act of
child abuse, let alone the potential impact it could have on
any jury that happened to read the paper unwittingly this
morning, it was wrong and they have the right to do it, but
they do not have the moral right to do it and it was
reprehensible and the reporter should know that
Thank you, Judge
THE COURT: Thank you. Mr. Raspante, do you wish10
a
12
aa
a5
16
uv
18
Fry
20
a
22
23
2a
25
to say anything at ali?
MR. RASPANTE 1 couldn't possitly add anything
more to that, your Honor. Thank you
THE COURT: So that being said, what I'll do is,
Twill remind the jury, although 1 think T've been doing it
an awful lot, but I will make an effort to stress that we'll
otart eff the morning with that. Okey?
HR. MASCARI: Thank you
court: right.STATE OF NEW YORK:
COUNTY OF MADISON :
E, MICHELLE L. CHRIST, Official court Reporter, do hereby
certify that the foregoing transcript is @ true and accurate
transcription of my verbatim stenographic notes nade in the
Matter of People versus Michael S. Stevens held on October 26,
2017.
12
13
Mu
Michelle L. christ
as official court Reporter
16
a7
19
20
a