PREVIOUS POST:-The clock moves slow. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. And now in 2011 there is mom and daughter coming to the judge through their lawyer saying that they do not WANT Lt. Moynihan to have to face trial on his three counts of domestic assault and battery charges.
[MA] Lt. Moynihan accused of PUNCHING girlfriend in the head 3 times and pushing her daughter into a wall - Lt. Moynihan was KNOCKED OUT last year in a fight with a MALE officer. He's not so hot man-to-man. He was formerly accused of BITING a student. Is that how you make arrests? And the Chief's office doesn't seem to know the status of that case, OR how Moynihan was handled while this same girlfriend had a restraining order against him. Maybe it's time to pull all the info together... To Moyihan's lawyer, who says punching the girlfriend is a "personal matter," - read a book. It is absolutely a public matter...;
...Both mother and daughter answered “Yes” when [Judge Philip] Beattie asked them if they had voluntarily signed the agreement to handle the matter privately... Ruling over the objection of the prosecution, Judge Philip A. Beattie on Monday allowed Moynihan and the alleged victims to settle the matter themselves...In 2009, when police arrived the house reflected the violence - broken chairs, disarray, black scuff marks where there don't belong, the girlfriend's left ear was red and not hearing with it well. No surprises here - the girlfriend (after being put on hold for 2 years) seems to think her best bet now is to not cooperate with the charges, and plead the fifth. Is she tired? Is she afraid? Is she threatened? Is she hoping that's she safe now? Is she offering a trade-off for peace? Whatever her reasons are, they won't be released to us - and not even prosecutors are allowed to know. So if she is afraid, it's nobody's business. What a rotten position to put domestic violence victims in - givnig them the option to sign an agreement to WORK IT OUT PRIVATELY WITH THE SAME PERSON THAT (allegedly) BEAT YOU BOTH UP! Yup. That's the solution here. So the charges are DISMISSED - like it never happened.
It doesn't matter that choking someone (a woman, at that) is strangling them. If you STRANGLE me, I get the idea that you are trying to KILL me.
...States are targeting choking incidents because when an abuser tries to strangle someone in a domestic assault, it is a leading indicator that he will escalate his attacks and eventually kill his victim... A 2008 study in the Journal of Emergency Medicine found 43% of women who were murdered in domestic assaults and 45% who were victims of attempted murder had been choked in the past year by their male partners... [USA TODAY]If these "dismissed" charges are true, Moynihan is LETHAL AND LOOSE. Three (alleged) punches to her head? That could have killed her also. It doesn't matter that this grown-*ss TACTICALLY TRAINED man assaulted a CHILD either. No outrage Springfield? IT DOESN'T MATTER that this man, lieutenant, of the police department could possibly have done these things - THAT (allegedly) OUT OF CONTROL - and he will still be allowed to be let loose on the public, dress up like a trusted public servant, carry a city weapon (and ammo), and retain sworn powers of arrest? If the citizens of Springfield aren't outraged, if they aren't filling the council chambers, and picketing - then they will get the police department that they deserve. And get your wallets out, because your liability for civil lawsuits regarding this cop just blew through the roof. If he chokes someone, shoots someone, or kills someone - Springfield will pick up the tab, and lives could be snuffed or devastated. Isn't it in the best interest of the commonwealth to KNOW if these are actual or alleged crimes?
No one has the right to do what Moynihan is accused of doing. It's not a personal or private matter, and the alleged CRIMES should be prosecuted with or without these weary victims. IF he did what he was accused of, then bet this: Anyone else he beats up will see how this was handled and KNOW that it's useless to call the police about it.
My prayers go out to this mom and daughter.
SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT HEARING MONDAY COULD END ASSAULT CASE ...
MassLive.com
August 20, 2011
[Excerpts] The fate of the domestic assault and battery case against a veteran city police lieutenant may be decided Monday if a Springfield District Court judge agrees to allow the parties to settle the matter among themselves... Signed statements given Oct. 7, 2009 by [the ex girlfriend] and her daughter describe a violent series of events at the hands of Moynihan that included punching and choking the mother and shoving the teen, according to court records. The two now do not want the case to go to trial, according to the request signed by their lawyer, Thomas J. Rooke, who, along with Moynihan’s lawyer, Michael O. Jennings, will ask the judge on Monday to let the parties settle the matter themselves. Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Friday he expects to object to that request, but the decision belongs to the judge. “A judge can allow this over the objection of the commonwealth,” he said... In a police report on the incident, Capt. Cheryl C. Claprood wrote that when police got to [the ex girlfriend]’s home, Moynihan was gone, and there were broken kitchen chairs strewn on the floor and black scuff marks on the kitchen floor and washing machine. Claprood said [the ex girlfriend] said she was not hearing properly from her left ear, which was red... “I was on the floor, by the washing machine, and he was choking me,” she told police that night. The case against Moynihan changed June 30, when Rooke said [the ex girlfriend] wanted to assert her Fifth Amendment rights. Judge Robert A. Gordon talked privately with [the ex girlfriend], and ruled she didn’t have to testify against Moynihan... Handwritten docket entries from that day state, “Commonwealth cannot proceed on counts one and two – dismissed”... [Full article here]
DOMESTIC ASSAULT CHARGES AGAINST SPRINGFIELD POLICE LT. ROBERT MOYNIHAN DISMISSED
The Republican
By Buffy Spencer
August 22, 2011
[Excerpts] City police Lt. Robert P. Moynihan will no longer have to report to Springfield District Court as a criminal defendant in a domestic assault and battery case that has been continued repeatedly over the past 22 months. Ruling over the objection of the prosecution, Judge Philip A. Beattie on Monday allowed Moynihan and the alleged victims to settle the matter themselves. Beattie's ruling dismisses the criminal charges against Moynihan, who was charged in 2009 with assaulting his girlfriend at the time... and her 13-year-old daughter... Both mother and daughter answered “Yes” when Beattie asked them if they had voluntarily signed the agreement to handle the matter privately. Assistant District Attorney Cary Szafranski asked Beattie to have a third party speak to the daughter to make sure this is what she wants; Beattie did not do that... Judge Robert A. Gordon talked privately with [the ex girlfriend], and ruled she didn’t have to testify against Moynihan. The Fifth Amendment privilege protects people from having to incriminate themselves. Mastroianni said the reasons given for claiming the privilege aren’t released or told to prosecutors. Although the court docket said Gordon dismissed the two counts of domestic assault and battery that named [the ex girlfriend] as the victim, Moynihan’s lawyer said he thinks that was a recording error and those charges were not actually dismissed in June... Moynihan has been free on his own recognizance throughout the domestic assault case and is on full duty as a lieutenant on the day shift. [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal strangulation teflon fear child abuse massachusetts politics]
I guess I continue to be shocked, alarmed, disgusted- but then grateful, that I escaped. Dark ages indeed!
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