Post by iris89 on Jan 19, 2010 14:32:42 GMT -5
Outrageous Abuse:
Read this abuse of individuals by police.
Court case drags on for nearly 3 years; Palm Beach County judge calls it 'one of the most questionable uses of court' [source – retrieved from www.palmbeachpost.com/news/court-....ars-182424.html on 1/19/2010]
Peter Torocsik, listens to closing arguments in the courtroom of Judge Barry Cohen at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday. Torocsik was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record.
Peter Torocsik, 13-months, at the time when his father Peter Torocsik, was tazed three times by Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies. Peter Torocsik, father, was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record in the courtroom of Judge Barry Cohen at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday
Judge Barry Cohen at the conclusion of a case involving Peter Torocsik who was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record. listens to closing arguments in the courtroom of at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday.
Judge Barry Cohen at the conclusion of a case involving Peter Torocsik who was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record. listens to closing arguments in the courtroom of at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday.
By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH — County Judge Barry Cohen is an amiable judge, highly rated by lawyers, presiding in a Woody-Allen-kinda-way over misdemeanor criminal cases.
But earlier this week a frustrated Cohen hit the wall over a misdemeanor resisting without violence trial where the only possible penalty for the defendant was a guilty conviction and paying $253 in court costs.
Nearly three years in the court pipeline, the case has featured 24 appearances by the defendant, Peter Torocsik, through one jury trial and conviction, a reversal by a judge, and an appeal by prosecutors that resulted in a second jury trial and verdict this week, with two prosecutors assigned to the case and three days of court time.
"One of the most questionable uses of court resources," he's seen in his 19 years on the bench.
Cohen is currently managing a load of 845 other cases set for hearings and trials. And with the acquittal rate in his division last year running at 51 percent, he has seriously wondered about prosecutors' lack of discretion under State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, with the young lawyers in front of him unable to pick and choose which cases to dig in on and which to take a pass on.
And this week Cohen seriously questioned it.
Cohen said in court that while other judges might not say it, he will: that he was nothing less than "outraged" by prosecutors' continued incurring of incredible expense on Torocsik's case in the current budget crisis.
"On what possible basis and what possible rationale would the state be seeking to expend these sort of resources?" he asked the two fresh-faced prosecutors, Marco Masullo and Cheo Reid.
The question, he said, wasn't directed at them — but to McAuliffe.
Prosecutors' lack of discretion has been a common complaint of criminal defense attorneys since McAuliffe took office. But this time it was raised by a judge.
To understand the question, it's helpful to know something of the case against Torocsik, a 63-year-old West Palm Beach man who was arrested in April 2007 while shopping at a Boca Raton Home Depot with his wife and then 13-month-old son.
According to his wife, Lola, she was swinging the boy in a swing set outside the store, when a man approached the set and walked around the back of it, looking at it. Lola testified she said to the man: "If you want this, it's $500." [[Note the use of ‘IT’ NOT ‘HE’]]
Miscommunication is the only way to explain what followed.
To make a long story necessarily short, sheriff's deputies quickly arrived to investigate a report of a woman selling a baby.
A silent security video tape captured the confrontation.
A deputy immediately asked Torocsik to hand over the child and Torocsik refused. Within minutes, there was physical struggle between the men. Torocsik ending up being hit with a Taser gun three times, including once with the baby boy in his arms, according to two witnesses. [[Should a father NOT have the right to prevent his son from being snatched/stolen even if the perpetrators are law enforcement individuals? I know if it were my son I would defend until I was dead. Should police just be able to snatch a child from its father’s arms when no law has been violated and if he refuses should it be called resisting arrest when at the point the father had NOT been read his Miranda rights or charged with any crime.]]
It took three deputies to subdue him, Torocsik all the while yelling "What have I done? What have I done wrong?" according to witnesses.
Torocsik was arrested on a felony charge of resisting arrest, later reduced to a misdemeanor. Torocsik, who owns a catering business, estimates he's since spent $60,000 on lawyers, private investigators and process servers trying to clear his name.
Cohen noted in his comments, that there was never any suggestion that Torocsik and his wife were anything but good parents.
Prosecutors again argued this week that Torocsik's refusal to cooperate with the deputies, impeding their investigation, was the crime of resisting arrest without violence.
And a jury, for the second time, agreed — finding Torocsik guilty on Friday.
McAuliffe said that he can't answer for the "historical arc" of the case and isn't bound to explain to Cohen the rationale for prosecuting a case. But he said it's important to communicate to the public that a person cannot unlawfully resist a police officer.
Prosecution in this case might be less about punishment and more about assigning public responsibility in the matter, McAuliffe said. And two jurors, he was told, said that they didn't feel it was a waste of time.
McAuliffe said that Cohen has never expressed any of his frustration to him. He would prefer Cohen do so directly and not in a public forum.
After the verdict, Cohen sentenced Torocsik to pay $253 in court costs and withheld adjudication, meaning the misdemeanor conviction will not appear on his record.
Torocsik said he intends to sue everyone — Home Depot, the managers who, according to testimony, forced employees to lie about the deputies' actions, the people who called the police with their misguided suspicion, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Originally from Hungary, now a U.S. citizen for 23 years, Torocsik said he feels it was a "hate crime" committed upon him as an immigrant and the verdict represents Americans' fear of immigrants.
He intends to appeal the verdict — a miscarriage of justice, he says.
Extending the historical arc even longer.
Now a question for all you mothers:
YES, HE IS GUILTY OF PROTECTING HIS CHILD! It is not a crime. Would you give your child to anyone who is asking for her/him?
NOTE: Be sure to read the comments on this case at,
www.palmbeachpost.com/news/court-....ue#commentsList
Your Friend in Christ Iris89
Read this abuse of individuals by police.
Court case drags on for nearly 3 years; Palm Beach County judge calls it 'one of the most questionable uses of court' [source – retrieved from www.palmbeachpost.com/news/court-....ars-182424.html on 1/19/2010]
Peter Torocsik, listens to closing arguments in the courtroom of Judge Barry Cohen at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday. Torocsik was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record.
Peter Torocsik, 13-months, at the time when his father Peter Torocsik, was tazed three times by Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies. Peter Torocsik, father, was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record in the courtroom of Judge Barry Cohen at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday
Judge Barry Cohen at the conclusion of a case involving Peter Torocsik who was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record. listens to closing arguments in the courtroom of at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday.
Judge Barry Cohen at the conclusion of a case involving Peter Torocsik who was pronounced guilty of resisting arrest without violence, sentenced to $253 in court cost and no guilty conviction put on his record. listens to closing arguments in the courtroom of at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach Friday.
By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH — County Judge Barry Cohen is an amiable judge, highly rated by lawyers, presiding in a Woody-Allen-kinda-way over misdemeanor criminal cases.
But earlier this week a frustrated Cohen hit the wall over a misdemeanor resisting without violence trial where the only possible penalty for the defendant was a guilty conviction and paying $253 in court costs.
Nearly three years in the court pipeline, the case has featured 24 appearances by the defendant, Peter Torocsik, through one jury trial and conviction, a reversal by a judge, and an appeal by prosecutors that resulted in a second jury trial and verdict this week, with two prosecutors assigned to the case and three days of court time.
"One of the most questionable uses of court resources," he's seen in his 19 years on the bench.
Cohen is currently managing a load of 845 other cases set for hearings and trials. And with the acquittal rate in his division last year running at 51 percent, he has seriously wondered about prosecutors' lack of discretion under State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, with the young lawyers in front of him unable to pick and choose which cases to dig in on and which to take a pass on.
And this week Cohen seriously questioned it.
Cohen said in court that while other judges might not say it, he will: that he was nothing less than "outraged" by prosecutors' continued incurring of incredible expense on Torocsik's case in the current budget crisis.
"On what possible basis and what possible rationale would the state be seeking to expend these sort of resources?" he asked the two fresh-faced prosecutors, Marco Masullo and Cheo Reid.
The question, he said, wasn't directed at them — but to McAuliffe.
Prosecutors' lack of discretion has been a common complaint of criminal defense attorneys since McAuliffe took office. But this time it was raised by a judge.
To understand the question, it's helpful to know something of the case against Torocsik, a 63-year-old West Palm Beach man who was arrested in April 2007 while shopping at a Boca Raton Home Depot with his wife and then 13-month-old son.
According to his wife, Lola, she was swinging the boy in a swing set outside the store, when a man approached the set and walked around the back of it, looking at it. Lola testified she said to the man: "If you want this, it's $500." [[Note the use of ‘IT’ NOT ‘HE’]]
Miscommunication is the only way to explain what followed.
To make a long story necessarily short, sheriff's deputies quickly arrived to investigate a report of a woman selling a baby.
A silent security video tape captured the confrontation.
A deputy immediately asked Torocsik to hand over the child and Torocsik refused. Within minutes, there was physical struggle between the men. Torocsik ending up being hit with a Taser gun three times, including once with the baby boy in his arms, according to two witnesses. [[Should a father NOT have the right to prevent his son from being snatched/stolen even if the perpetrators are law enforcement individuals? I know if it were my son I would defend until I was dead. Should police just be able to snatch a child from its father’s arms when no law has been violated and if he refuses should it be called resisting arrest when at the point the father had NOT been read his Miranda rights or charged with any crime.]]
It took three deputies to subdue him, Torocsik all the while yelling "What have I done? What have I done wrong?" according to witnesses.
Torocsik was arrested on a felony charge of resisting arrest, later reduced to a misdemeanor. Torocsik, who owns a catering business, estimates he's since spent $60,000 on lawyers, private investigators and process servers trying to clear his name.
Cohen noted in his comments, that there was never any suggestion that Torocsik and his wife were anything but good parents.
Prosecutors again argued this week that Torocsik's refusal to cooperate with the deputies, impeding their investigation, was the crime of resisting arrest without violence.
And a jury, for the second time, agreed — finding Torocsik guilty on Friday.
McAuliffe said that he can't answer for the "historical arc" of the case and isn't bound to explain to Cohen the rationale for prosecuting a case. But he said it's important to communicate to the public that a person cannot unlawfully resist a police officer.
Prosecution in this case might be less about punishment and more about assigning public responsibility in the matter, McAuliffe said. And two jurors, he was told, said that they didn't feel it was a waste of time.
McAuliffe said that Cohen has never expressed any of his frustration to him. He would prefer Cohen do so directly and not in a public forum.
After the verdict, Cohen sentenced Torocsik to pay $253 in court costs and withheld adjudication, meaning the misdemeanor conviction will not appear on his record.
Torocsik said he intends to sue everyone — Home Depot, the managers who, according to testimony, forced employees to lie about the deputies' actions, the people who called the police with their misguided suspicion, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Originally from Hungary, now a U.S. citizen for 23 years, Torocsik said he feels it was a "hate crime" committed upon him as an immigrant and the verdict represents Americans' fear of immigrants.
He intends to appeal the verdict — a miscarriage of justice, he says.
Extending the historical arc even longer.
Now a question for all you mothers:
YES, HE IS GUILTY OF PROTECTING HIS CHILD! It is not a crime. Would you give your child to anyone who is asking for her/him?
NOTE: Be sure to read the comments on this case at,
www.palmbeachpost.com/news/court-....ue#commentsList
Your Friend in Christ Iris89