Connecticut Criminal Lawyer Blog

Lawyers are closely watching the case of a swimming pool company president who was charged with second-degree manslaughter Monday in a drowning case, saying it could change the legal landscape for business owners in Connecticut.

If successfully prosecuted, the criminal case against David Lionetti, president of Shoreline Pools in Stamford, could hold the state's business owners and professionals to a new and stricter level of responsibility for their work, legal experts said.

Lionetti, 53, has been released on $25,000 bail. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Police say Lionetti, of Stamford, "recklessly caused the death" of 6-year-old Zachary Cohn in 2007 by failing to install mandated safety devices in the pool. Zachary drowned after his arm was trapped by the suction of a powerful drain pump.

Although the case is not unprecedented, criminal defense lawyers and legal experts said it is unusual.

"My guess is, if you've got a business where you're dealing with dynamite or nitro, they're going to hold you to a reckless standard if you do anything remotely off the protocol," said Todd Fernow, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, who heads the school's criminal law clinic. "But for something like a pool? People drown in pools every day."

Lionetti's attorney, Richard Meehan Jr., said his client plans to plead not guilty.

Eugene Riccio, a criminal defense lawyer in Bridgeport, described Lionetti's case as a "creative use of the manslaughter statute" that could very well be proven in court.

"Just because it's creative doesn't mean it's legally flawed," he said. "It puts other people involved in commercial activities on notice that they could be held criminally liable in the conduct of their business."

Defense lawyer Audrey Felson said she was "at a loss for words" when she first heard about the criminal charge brought against Lionetti.

"This is the first time I've ever heard of this rising to the level of criminal responsibility. ... There's a lot of gray area [in criminal law], but these are things we would've never thought," she said. "I could imagine it would make people in the service industry, whatever they do, much more concerned about what their obligations and responsibilities are."

The case does not mark the first time that a business owner has been criminally charged in connection with services rendered in Connecticut.

David Wilcox, owner of the dump truck in a 2005 crash on Avon Mountain that killed four and injured 11, is facing manslaughter charges.

Fernow recalled an electrician he represented 15 years ago who was convicted of second-degree manslaughter after he incorrectly wired a heater and caused a house fire that killed a young child. Fernow unsuccessfully appealed the case, but he remains skeptical of the charge against Lionetti.

"There are going to be a lot of dueling experts. It's going to be a very difficult case to litigate depending on [Lionetti's] track record," he said. "They're going to have to show actual knowledge on his part of the failure to take measures. And I would be surprised, without knowing all of the facts, if this goes all the way."

It's possible, he said, that "this is just a show trial, to accomplish the purpose by scaring people."

Since 1985, more than 150 cases have been reported in the U.S. of swimming pool drain entrapments, leading to at least 48 deaths and many serious injuries, including disembowelment, of children and adults, according to a lawsuit filed by Zachary's parents.

Police said Zachary Cohn drowned when his arm got stuck in an intake valve in the deep end of the family's in-ground pool on July 26, 2007. Water entering the intake valve is pumped through filters before being returned to the pool.

Zachary's parents, Brian Cohn, former president of one of the world's largest hedge funds, SAC Capital Advisors, and his wife, Karen, have filed a civil lawsuit alleging that the pool violated safety code requirements.

In a statement released Monday, the couple said they hoped that filing criminal charges against Lionetti would "prevent another horrific incident like this from happening to someone else."

"Those who knowingly violate pool safety codes designed to protect children should be held accountable for their actions," the couple said in the statement.

Contact Lynn Doan at ldoan@courant.comt.

An Associated Press report is included in this story.

By LYNN DOAN | Courant Staff Writer

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A career criminal who fatally strangled and stabbed a woman last year, leaving her to die at the Connecticut River in South Windsor, was sentenced to 35 years in prison today.

William Walters of Windsor Locks was sentenced in Superior Court in Hartford before Judge David Gold, who said this is effectively a life sentence.

Walters is 46 and is not eligible for parole.

On April 24, Walters pleaded guilty to murder in the July 5, 2007 death of Debra Vigneau of Somers.

William C. Walters Police said Walters had been having an affair with Vigneau, 50, when they got into an argument by the river in South Windsor last year. Police said Vigneau, concerned that Walters was seeing another woman behind her back, threatened to throw his car keys in the river if he didn't tell her whom he had been talking to on his cellphone.

Police said Vigneau also threatened to report their affair to Walters' wife. He responded by lunging at her and killing her.

Police found Vigneau's body in some brush on the side of Vibert Road, which leads to the dock. They found Walters soon afterward at the Windsor Locks home of another woman he had been seeing. That woman told police that he showed up with blood on his clothes and tried to wash the blood off with a shower, police said.

Court records show that Walters has an extensive criminal record and was on parole through 2010 in connection with a 2003 arrest charging him with escape, first-degree larceny and failure to appear in court.

In a statement to police after the killing, Walters' wife, Rose Walters, said her husband had called her shortly afterward and told her that he had killed someone because she had been picking on him, police said.

By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY | Courant Staff Writer

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NORWALK — Three Bridgeport men have accepted plea deals on charges involving the firing of a paint ball gun at a Westport police officer.
The incident occurred after Officer Richard Bagley stopped a car with a defective license plate light on April 10. When Bagley walked up to the vehicle, its rear hatch opened and one man fired a paint ball gun at him.

Police say that thinking he was under fire, Bagley dove to the ground.

Twenty-five-year-old Jaret Ortiz, 19-year-old Juan Carlos Trinidad-Cosme and 20-year-old Octavio Real were facing more than 20 years in prison.

In court Monday, Ortiz pleaded guilty to assault on a police officer and is facing a maximum of six years.

The other two suspects face a maximum two years in prison.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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STAMFORD — After a historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last week, gun advocates in Connecticut can rest assured that their Second Amendment rights are safe.

On June 26, the court ruled 5-4 that a Washington, D.C. handgun ban was unconstitutional and for the first time recognized that the Second Amendment affords individuals the right to own a gun for self-defense and hunting purposes.

"Thank God," said Gary Mammana, former owner of Stamford Archery and Firearms. "I know first hand how state implemented gun laws hurt legal gun owners, not the criminals."

On April 13, 2007 Mammana was escorted from his shop at 379 Shippan Ave. by two state police officers for selling what state officials told him were legal guns. The charges against Mammana were later dropped and expunged from the records after he agreed to an accelerated rehabilitation, he said. However, his business never recovered. He was soon forced to shut down.

"I opened up my gun shop against the advice of a lot of people. Selling guns isn't a lucrative business because of the country's feelings toward guns," he said.
Although state and city legislators say the supreme court's ruling won't effect Connecticut's current gun laws, Mammana hopes it will.

"I'll bet somebody brings suit against the state of Connecticut as a result [of the court's ruling]," he said.

"As far as the supreme courts decision, we don't expect any impact for Connecticut," said Ron Pinciaro, a spokesman for Connecticut Against Gun Violence. Where issues could arise are in cities and states with stricter gun laws like San Francisco, New York and Chicago, he said.

State Rep. William Tong, D-147, said that Connecticut's gun laws are in line with most other jurisdiction's and that the court's decision should have little baring on Connecticut.

"What this [ruling] means is that Connecticut can continue to do what it needs to do to prevent unnecessary gun violence," he said.

Tong has advocated for stricter gun laws in Connecticut. His Lost and Stolen Firearms bill, which requires gun owners to report a lost or stolen firearm within 72 hours since it went missing, recently passed and became law.

The Second Amendment states "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, "Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct."

While Mammana agrees with the more obvious state implemented restrictions placed on legal gun owners, he believes upholding the U.S. constitution should be first priority.

"Most states that have these bans are violating the Second Amendment," he said. "This was a victory, but legal gun owners need to continue to speak out."

By CHASE WRIGHT

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