Dismissal Asked on Tea Charge. Det. Not Allowed Answer. Witness: Crazy Not Said

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. November 16, 2010:


 Mayor Adam Bradley’s trial of charges of domestic violence  at the Westchester County Courthouse is currently in recess, scheduled to resume at 2:30 P.M.


The action so far:


At 10:40 this morning, Defense Attorney Luis Penichet opened the case for the defense of Mr. Bradley calling Detective Robbins of the White Plains Police Department to the stand. After brief questions about the pictures of the stairs in the Bradley household and the door where the alleged slamming of Mrs. Bradley’s three middle fingers of her left hand happened, Penichet asked at any time during Detective Robbins investigatory interview did Mrs. Bradley indicate the door was slammed on her hand twice.


Prosecutor Audrey Stone objected. She argued that unless the detective “confronted” Mrs. Bradley with the question in the investigative interview,  the question should not be asked, saying Penichet could have asked Fumiko Bradley that question directly in cross examination. Stone cited a civil case supporting her interpretation. Judge Susan Capeci took a recess at 11:00 to consider the decision. At 11:15, court resumed with Judge Capeci sustaining Ms. Stone’s objection.


Call for Dismissal of One Charge


At that point, Mr. Penichet said he had no further questions for Detective Robbins and asked the Judge to dismiss the January 11 assault charge against Mr. Bradley for allegedly  throwing tea at Mrs. Bradley. The Judge said she would take fifteen minutes to consider it. 


Penichet asked for dismissal on the grounds that the plaintiff, Mrs. Bradley had felt testified she felt bad about the incident and had demonstrated inconsistency in her testimony. The prosecutor argued the charge should not be dismissed because part of the charge definition was to inflict bodily harm. Judge Capeci took a 15-minute break and announced she was reserving decision on the dismissal request.


Penichet called his next witness, Mike Passarella, a contractor and previously an employee of White Plains in administering a housing rehabilitation program.


Penichet lead Mr. Passarella back to the Saturday before the alleged door slam incident. The key portion of the testimony, found Mr. Passarella describing what happened when he came upstairs from the basement after examining water damage to sheet rock in the Bradley basement, from a roof leak.


Passarella said, noting that Mike Strongwater, Mr. Bradley, Mrs. Bradley and the two Bradley children were around the (dining) table:


“She  (Fumiko Bradley) approached me and started screaming hysterically and pointed to Adam (Bradley). She was pointing at Adam and screaming and walking back and forth.” Asked the color of Mrs. Bradley’s face, Passarella said, “Red.”


Penichet asked if Mrs. Bradley and Adam Bradley gotten into an argument. Passarella said “No.”


Penichet asked how long Mrs. Bradley was shouting. Passarella said, “5 to 7 minutes.”


Then Penichet asked if Mr. Bradley told Mr. Strongwater (at the table in front of the agitated Mrs. Bradley) that “Fumiko was crazy.”


Amy Puerto of the prosecution objected. The witness was asked to leave the court and Judge Capeci heard Mr. Penichet’s justification for allowing what the prosecutor feels was collateral and hearsay into the record. Penichet once again referred to the law manual, Richardson On Evidence, citing the right to show “bias, state of mind,” of the plaintiff.


Prosecutor Amy Puerto objected again. The witness Passarella was again directed out of the courtroom and another discussion over  what Richardson On Evidence interpretation means. Penichet said the answer to the question would reveal “the state of mind” of Mrs. Bradley the day before the February 28 incident of the alleged door slam.


Puerto declared to the Judge, that Penichet “has failed to show in any of the matters how what happened here (around the lunch table on the 27th)  shows (Fumiko Bradley’s) state of mind the day before the 28th.”


Judge Capeci overruled the objection and directed Passarella to answer the question whether Adam Bradley said Fumiko Bradley is crazy.  


Passarella  said “No.” (that Bradley did not say Mrs. Bradley was crazy, which Mrs. Bradley had testified to on direct.


Penichet proceeded asking what Mrs. Bradley had yelled in the reported 5 to 7 minute tirade.


Prosecutor Amy Puerto objected again. The witness Passarella was again directed out of the courtroom and another discussion over  what Richardson On Evidence interpretation means. Penichet said the answer to the question would reveal “the state of mind” of Mrs. Bradley the day before the February 28 incident of the alleged door slam.


The Judge adjourned for 10 minutes, and returning  sustaining the prosecution objection.


Just before court ended for lunch, Mr. Penichet was calling a school bus driver as a witness of a conversation they had had with Mrs. Bradley. Again the prosecution objected. The Judge recessed the proceedings at 12:30 P.M.


The proceedings were interrupted for two other court matters during the morning. Mr. Penichet also made two statements for the record to note what he felt were disallowances of questions that he felt were in order according to the Richardson On Evidence book allowing hearsay in on a collateral matters where the state of mind, bias, motive could be shown by those questions. WPCNR notes the prosecutors peppered the proceedings objections.


 


 

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Ridgeway Country Club Winning Bid Selected. No Name of Buyer Yet

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WPCNR SOUTH END NEWS. Special to WPCNR. November 15, 2010: 


Informed sources have told WPCNR that a highest bidder has been selected by the owners of Ridgeway Country Club. The sources say that five bids were submitted and the price they say is close to the club asking price of $13.5 Million. WPCNR has put in a call to Bill Cuddy, who is handling the sale for CB Richard Ellis.


On November 5, the City of White Plains Common Council tabled a set of legislation that would have funded the city purchase of the club. The council had been told the price of the club would be considerably less than the published asking price.  Councilman David Buchwald that evening of November 5 had held out the possibility that the city could approach Ridgeway and negotiate after a final bid had been selected.

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Board of Legislators see $52 Million Surplus in County Budget.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. (Edited and amplified by John F. Bailey).November 15, 2010:


The Westchester County third quarter forecast shows substantial financial improvement, predicting a $52 million return to fund balance, County Board Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers) announced Monday. 


 “This is good news , following a 2nd quarter forecast which showed Westchester returning $22 million to fund balance,” Jenkins said.


 The 2010 forecast, according to the Board of Legislators news release reflects increases in sales tax revenue of $25.6  million over 2009 actual (by the end of December).


To date as reported Sunday by WPCNR, the county has collected $361,958,132.62 in sales taxes through October, $17,976,111.70 more than 2009  ($343,982,020)after the 10 month mark. This computes to a 5.2% increase pace in sales tax revenue collection over the first ten months of 2010.


If November and December maintain the same 5.2% pace, the county should generate $75 Million in sales tax dollars finishing the year at $436 Million in sales taxes, $21 Million over last year’s $415 Million.


The county forecast of a $25 Million increase in sales collections assumes the rate of increase being experiened in county sales tax revenues will double from 5.2% to 10%.


 






In a joint statement with the Board’s Budget and Appropriations Chairman Jose Alvarado (D-Yonkers), Jenkins said, “The third quarter forecast shows Westchester‘s budget is in a far better position than it was at the same point in 2009.” Alvarado added that  the County  government remains committed to its investment and fiscal strategy. “This continues to show that the County Board along with the previous Administration enacted a fiscally responsible budget for 2010.”   



Chairman Jenkins said, “Through the 2011 budget process, we will continue to balance the needs of all our stakeholders; the people who pay for services; the people who receive services and the people who deliver those services

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Mother Tells Different Version of Bathroom Shower Incident. Defense Begins Tues.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. November  15, 2010 Updated November 16, 2010 :


Kane Machinaga, Fumiko Bradley’s mother, under prosecutor questioning through a court interpreter,  told family court this morning that Adam Bradley was not inside the bathroom but just outside the bathroom entrance during the shower incident April 2  that Fumiko Bradley described  last Wednesday.


 That alleged confrontation lead to Mr. Bradley being charged with violation of a restraining order, witness tampering and harrassment in connection with his trial on domestic violence charges which continued this morning. 


Mrs. Bradley’s mother’s testimony appeared inconsistent with Fumiko Bradley’s testimony in which Mrs. Bradley described Adam Bradley as being inside the bathroom, holding a cap and slapping the walls of the bathroom with the cap, and eventually yelling at  her “You have to hang yourself up.” Mrs. Bradley testified last week her mother came between them shouting “No.No. No,” hugging her daughter. 


Ms Machinaga testified after she heard Adam Bradley’s voice shouting from upstairs that day, she went up two flights of stairs into the Bradley bedroom and found Mr. Bradley outside the bathroom door. She then went past Mr. Bradley to go into the bathroom to see what was the matter.


Ms. Machinaga said the morning of April 2 that Mr. Bradley and his older sister came to visit and that she, Ms. Machinaga “I stayed downstairs because I didn’t want to meet them. I  could see people upstairs from the basement. I heard Adam’s (Bradley) voice (from upstairs).” 


Asked if she saw Mr. Bradley,(from her position in the downstairs), she said “No, I only heard him.”


Asked by prosecutor Audrey Stone what she did, she said “When I heard (the shouting), I think to myself this (the shouting) is dangerous and I went upstairs to see.”


Ms. Machinaga said she went up two flights of stairs (13 steps)from the basement and entered the Bradley bedroom.


She said, “I saw Adam in front of the bathroom (entrance), and I went past Mr. Adam (Bradley) to Fumiko.” Ms.Machinaga said after passing Mr. Bradley, she saw Fumiko Bradley, who had been in the shower,  shivering with arms crossed in front of her chest. The Prosecutor Ms. Stone asked how Mrs. Bradley looked.   “Fright. Frightened,” the interpreter translated.


Ms. Machinaga said she had told Adam Bradley “No,” as she moved past him.


Ms. Machinaga testified to the prosecutor’s question of what Mr. Bradley had shouted, that she did not understand what Mr. Bradley had been shouting to her daughter. Ms.Stone asked if Mrs. Machinaga understood English. Machinaga through the interpretor said “No,” confirming to the prosecutor on the prosecutor’s clarification quesion, she didn’t understand English.


Asked what she did next, Ms. Machinaga said she asked her daughter, “What’s happening? What’s going on?”


Ms. Machinaga said her daughter told her, they were having a fight.  “I’m the one who’s wrong.” Ms. Machinaga reported Fumiko Bradley as saying.  Asked what she did next, Machinaga said she hugged her daughter.


She said “Adam (Bradley) left,” But it is unclear if Mr. Bradley had departed the bedroom from where Mrs. Machinaga said she had gone past him, or had stayed to see the mother-daughter hug.


Last week in describing the same incident, Fumiko Bradley said Mr. Bradley was in the bathroom shouting at her and her mother had intervened, appearing to stop the argument the couple was having, saying “No.No.No,” and hugging her daughter.


Mr. Penichet, Mr. Bradley’s attorney declined to cross-examine Ms. Machinaga, saying “No further questons, Your Honor.”


At the start of Ms. Machinaga’s testimony, Ms. Machinaga said she had come to America last spring because it was the time she always has come to see her daughter.


The Prosecutor Audrey Stone rested her case, after Mr. Penichet declined to cross-examine Ms. Machinaga.


At that point the matter of whether Mr. Penichet would be allowed to call a person familiar with Mrs. Bradley’ history at a Japanese school where she worked, was discussed by the Judge with the attorneys. 


Mr. Penichet narrowed his focus to concentrate on Mrs. Bradley’s reputation of conduct at the school in the period 1999-2000 to show what Penichet described as Mrs. Bradley being known among parents, teachers and administrators as being prone to “lying and telling stories.”


Hauling out his trusty Richardson On Evidence reference, Penichet cited Section 494 dealing with hearsay definitions and when hearsay could be allowed on the record.  The prosecutor, Audrey Stone, protested that the character witness testimony was “too remote,” and cited a passage in Richardson’s sayin hearsay should not be allowed if “too remote,” but the definition of “too remote,” was not defined by Ms. Stone.


The Judge said with Mr. Penichet’s new “narrower focus,” that she would allow the school witness.


The detective expected to testify this morning, Detective Robbins of the White Plains Police is expected to lead off Mr. Penichet’s defense argument Tuesday mornning at 9:30 A.M., Penichet told a news conference in the lobby of the Richard A. Dorango Courthouse. He told WPCNR “the Judge (Capeci) has two subpoenas (for the Bradley families two mariage counselors), and the judge indicated she would allow me to call them and I intend to do so.”


Penichet said he expected to call every police officer who interviewed Fumiko Bradley, but declined to say if he would put Assemblywoman Amy Paulin on the stand.


Mayor Bradley’s case resumes 9:30 Tuesday morning with the defense presenting.

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City Sales Tax $$ Up 11.7% After Sluggish October. County up 5% w/2 Mos. To go

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. By John F. Bailey. November 14, 2010:


 


The state Department of Taxation & Finance reported White Plains and Westchester County sales tax receipts Friday showing that the ¼% increase in White Plains sales tax has resulted as expected in an 11.7% increase in city sales tax receipts equivalent to the 12% proportionate increase in the city tax rate.


 


After the first four  months of the city fiscal year 2010-11, White Plains has generated $16,611,672.22 compared to $14,879595.57 in 2009-10, an increase of 11.7%.


 


Westchester County is generating retail sales ahead of last year’s pace. After 10 months of its fiscal year is looking at receipts totaling $362 Million as opposed to $344 Million last year, an increase of 5% (without a sales tax increase).


 


If the city maintains the 12% surge in tax receipts, it will hit the $48 Million level in sales tax receipts, if sales tax receipts equal last year’s pace for the next eight months. Should November December surge with holiday shopping,  $50 Million or more, an all-time record for a sales tax year could be breached.


 


From a county vantage point if the County continues its 5% growth in retail sales in November December and generates $75 Million in sales tax recipts in the holiday season the county will finish with $437 Million in sales tax receipts – $6 Million more than forecast for 2010 ($432 Million).


 

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Ghost Plane

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WPCNR WILD BLUE YONDER. November 13, 2010: 


A phantom plane brought its sinister aura to Westchester County Airport today when a modern Czechoslovakian MIG L29 — reminiscent of the MIG-15s and MIG-21s (though the L29 is larger)that were the rivals of the American Sabre Jets in “Mig Alley” in the Korean War


The Korean War began sixty years ago this week. The L29 which I have seen before flew in with its distinctive roar to County Airport. Privately owned, this modern MIG retains the notorious reputation of its ancesters, inpiring awe, fear, menace and a memory of the violence of the air war and high speed dogfights over in the early 1950s.


The Mig was considered superior to the American Sabre Jet but US Pilots’ skills in the F-86 Sabrejet are thought to have carried the day in that conflict with a kill ratio of 10 to 1.(827 confirmed victories over Mig-15s to 78 Sabrejet losses. The modern Mig is a sobering reminder always of the sacrifice U.S. Pilots endured.



MIG L29 Hisses to a refueling stop at Million Air FBO at Westchester County Airport this morning.



 

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Children’s Mural of White Plains Disappears on City Place Former Nook Wall

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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. By the White Plains Roving Photographer. November 13, 2010:


While on daily patrol around White Plains today, WPCNR’s man with a camera was shocked to see the colorful street mural, believed to be created by chid artists twenty years ago during the Del Vecchio administration — a colorful and cheery fixture that gladdened the senses was missing due to construction work on the former Corner Nook building. (The building is being readied for a hamburger restaurant.) It is unknown why the mural wall has been removed or if the mural was preserved to be reinstalled. In the third and fourth pictures below is what the mural looked like, compared to what it looks like this afternoon.


NOW.



GOODBYE  ART OF THE CHILDREN?  The mural painted sometime in the 80s, that livened up Main Street for a quarter of a century is gone. WPCNR is attempting to find out whether structural problems necessitated restoring the wall of the former Corner Nook building, (below) that the mural graced.


 



 


THEN



 



Mural  on the wall of the former Corner Nook is seen in lower left while Trump Tower rises at City Center in 2005.


 

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COHEN: 8,202 Votes to be Counted in Oppenheimer-Cohen Race. Oppenheimer by 504

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2010. From Candidate Bob Cohen. November 12, 2010:  


Republican Candidate Bob Cohen, contending with incumbent Suzi Oppenheimer for State Senate in


District 37, delivered this report late Friday evening saying 504 votes separate him from Oppenheimer


with 8,202 votes left to be counted. Cohen reports on his website:


We have had many people write in and call looking for more information


 


as to the status of the election.  Here is the latest-



  • The re-canvass of the voting machines was completed this week.

  • The count stands: Oppenheimer 40,527 to 40,023 Cohen.  

  • On a percentage basis: 50.31% Oppenheimer to 49.68% Cohen

  • There are approximately 10,000 votes left to be counted

  • The votes left to be counted are twice as many as any

    other Senate District in the state and more than most


    Congressional races.


 



  • The “Emergency Ballots”, which are a third of the uncounted votes,

 



  • The Emergency Ballots are the first scheduled to be counted next

week.


Of the 8,202 votes, Cohen reports 3,323 are Emergency Ballots (given out to voters at polls where new county voting machines


were not functioning),  3,814 Absentee Ballots, and 1,065 Affidavit Ballots.

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CHANNEL 76 BLACKED OUT IN WHITE PLAINS. CATCH WHITE PLAINS WEEK ON INTERNET AT 9

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WPCNR PRESS HANGOUT. By John F. Bailey. November 12, 2010:


White Plains Cable was blacked out in White Plains this evening for reasons unknown at this time.


The blackout resulted in viewers being unable to see the White Plains Week program analyzing the state of Mayor Adam Bradley’s trial on domestic abuse and a military affairs program before the show. Viewers report seeing no community bulletin board notices from 7:28 P.M. on, hearing the audio of the trademark WHITE PLAINS WEEK “roaring presses” theme with no video, and then audio dropped out and nothing but black screen was to be scene. Cable channels 75 (the government access channel) and channel 77 (the White Plains Schools station) were operating normally.


However, viewers with internet access can see this significant program on their computer at www.whiteplainsweek.com beginning approximately 9 P.M. WPCNR will advise when the program is ready and up on its world wide network.


It is unknown whether Verizon FIOS which carries the show across Westchester County also had their Channel 45 programming (duplicating all Channel 76 programming) was black as well.


 

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