By Guy Page
A House bill introduced Tuesday, February 14 by South Burlington Representative Martin LaLonde, a lawyer, Democrat and the chairman of the House Judiciary committee, would give the Vermont Criminal Justice Council another powerful tool to find police officers guilty of law enforcement misconduct.
H.251 would add the issuance of a Brady or Giglio letter as a basis of law enforcement misconduct under the jurisdiction of the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, the state’s police disciplinary board.
Reps. Martin Lalonde (left) and Mike McCarthy have introduced a bill allowing the Vermont Criminal Justice Council to add the issuance of a prosecutor’s Brady/Giglio letter as a basis for police misconduct.
Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions — Brady V. Maryland, and Giglio V. United States — require prosecutors to reveal evidence that could exonerate a criminal defendant. It has become the practice of some prosecutors around the country, including in Vermont, to issue what are sometimes referred to as Brady/Giglio letters when they learn that a law enforcement officer has acted in a way that calls into question their credibility, according to a November, 2022 legislative 2022 report.
The letters often precede formal action against the police officers by the VCJC. In recent months, the Vermont Criminal Justice Council has banned two Vermont police officers from ever working again in Vermont law enforcement – a process known as “decertification.”
The VCJS decertified Springfield Police Officer Anthony Moriglioni in November for grabbing the neck of a suspect believed to have drugs in his mouth and about to swallow them. In September it decertified Williston Police Officer Travis Trybulski for an unauthorized traffic stop of a New York car.
Also, Orange County Sheriff William Bohnyak was sanctioned last month for reportedly assigning an unqualified deputy to a special investigations unit. The council merely sanctioned him because it conceded that elected county sheriffs are not subject to state decertification.
All three of these actions were taken without Brady/Giglio letters having the force of law in the eyes of the Criminal Justice Council. H.251 would change that – potentially giving the council even more clout in banning police officers from working in Vermont.
H.251 is cosponsored by Representative Mike McCarthy of St. Albans, the chair of the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs. Because it is sponsored by these two committee chairmen, it will likely receive a thorough committee review in either Judiciary, Government Ops, or both.
Guy Page is publisher of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. Reprinted with permission.
Here is something for the 2a gun grabbers to ponder….
Here’s Some Sensible Gun Logic …..
1 – Eleven teens die each day because of texting while driving. Maybe it’s time to raise the age of Smart Phone ownership to 21. (FACT)
2 – If gun control laws actually worked, Chicago would be Mayberry, USA
3 – The Second Amendment makes more women equal than the entire feminist movement.
4 – Legal gun owners have 300 million guns and probably a trillion rounds of ammo. Seriously, folks, if we were the problem, you’d know it.
5 – When JFK was killed, nobody blamed the rifle.
6 – The NRA (National Rifle Association) murders 0 people and receives ($$$$ 0) nothing in government funds. Planned Parenthood kills 350,000 babies every year and receives $500,000,000 in tax dollars annually.
7 – I have no problem with vigorous background checks when it comes to firearms. While we’re at it, let’s do the same when it comes to immigration, Voter I.D., and candidates running for office.
8 – Folks keep talking about another Civil War. One side knows how to shoot and probably has a trillion rounds. The other side has crying closets and is confused about which bathroom to use. How do you think that would work out?
9 A man who left 300,000 guns for the Taliban is lecturing folks on gun control.
Don’t be afraid to share this. There’s more logic and common sense expressed here than probably anything you have seen on the news today.
While we all seem concerned about police officers we have to remember according to the supreme court they are not there to protect us….
However we are forced to pay them and many people are deceived into believing they are there to protect the public…
I just looked this up and I’m going to copy and paste it… I believe it is accurate but I would encourage everyone to double-check me…
This latest decision adds to a growing body of case law establishing that government agencies — including police agencies — have no duty to provide protection to citizens in general:
“Neither the Constitution, nor state law, impose a general duty upon police officers or other governmental officials to protect individual persons from harm — even when they know the harm will occur,” said Darren L. Hutchinson, a professor and associate dean at the University of Florida School of Law. “Police can watch someone attack you, refuse to intervene and not violate the Constitution.”
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the government has only a duty to protect persons who are “in custody,” he pointed out
We live in scary times…
Mr. Ley (again)
I’m sure you are correct in saying that the police are not there to protect us.. I’ve read this before myself.
But here is what is more scary: the state of our courts and the Judiciary.
We have the 2A that we can use to protect ourselves- but if we then actually used it to defend ourselves- against say a home invader- there is a very good chance that we ourselves would be the ones winding up in jail !!
Do you know that their are Judges down in Massachusetts routinely letting drug dealers off and saying that they are selling drugs to feed their families (just pick an excuse) so therefore apparently it’s okay.
So it’s not a stretch of the imagination at all to feel your life is in danger from a robber in your home, you shoot the robber but not mortally, the robber says he was breaking in to get food or because it was below zero outside, who knows, and YOU are the one being tried for attempted murder.
THIS is the kind of baloney that is going on all over this country now.
If you live in a deep blue state today that is soft on crime, this is a very possible scenario.
So to my mind, not even knowing if the judge we wind up in front of because we were forced to protect ourselve-as the police may not,, not knowing that this Judge will follow laws as written, or that this is an activist Judge, THAT adds another very scary layer to this entire situation.
Few people are thinking about this aspect of things..
It’s beyond scary- we have been rendered largely powerless in many instances.
So that makes 2a the only recourse for a citizen….they can’t have it both ways, but then liars always try to have it both ways.
I want a way to ban stupid members of the legislature from serving again.
Mr.Ley,
I see and agree with all that you are saying.
I know it’s going on, that it’s real and that it’s wrong and we’ve got a huge crisis on our hands with this.
This is the results of the cultural degradation of our states and our nations.
We’ve been watching education be destroyed and driven into failure for our entire lives now..
We’ve watched the destruction of our traditional family units- kids are being raised in daycare centers by low paid people. We’ve moved from God and followers are called terrorists.
We are creating empty vessels of broken people ripe to be filled with the most vile filth- and then activated– against us. And yet with all this going on we seem to think that good quality people are going to magically be created- it doesn’t work that way at all.
And then people are shocked that we are being overrun with the fallout of it all.
They’ve been set up to become weaponized- and they are now.
But not all people are this- of course.
I have posted many times that so much that we are looking at today is not the true roots of the problems- it’s the Fallout Of The Real Problems- which is this bought and paid for culture war waged against us that is rotting our society.
When we see this and fix this, a whole lot will fall into place.
Your most important line to my mind is when you say that there are changes that we need to fix- but we do not need to tear our police departments apart– I totally agree and is what is happening.
We’ve got a few wonderful new police officers in my neck of the woods here in NH and they moved here from Vermont- we’re happy to have these fine men- but that is now your loss that didn’t need to happen.
No one packs up their family and flees their home happily- and that is what the good ones are being forced to do.
I mean that in and of itself is so wrong, ugly and incredibly short sited.
Imagine that as Vermont pays people to move there- they are then driving people out that the state heavily invested in.
How much sense does that make?
We really need to teach our way out of this and we desperately need the good people among us to rise up and do this work- or truly, our goose is cooked.
Thank you for your response, you outlined the issues so well.
More distortion of facts from the police haters. The public is not likely aware that the issuance of a Brady/ Giglio is at the discretion of a prosecutor with no actual proof in some instances. There is no appeal process or anything that a police officer can do to challenge the issuance. You’ve got some states attorneys that are cop haters that have infiltrated our legal system and issue these things on frivolous facts and information.
There’s no need for cops, when we have so many social workers here. They can defuse any situation, and really, there are no criminals. Just good people who happened to break the law, or threaten and assault people. Hey if they assault somebody, they probably have a good reason.
Criminals are really just misunderstood, that’s all. /s
Those darn cops, just spoiling everybody’s fun! Crime is a blast.
Geez, what a shock that Vermont is short on police officers.
At this point, you’d be nuts to be one there.
This right here is another way that Vermont is driving good, young professionals out of the state- with their families.
Have these people heard the line “No Families No Future” before?
Good police officers can find jobs all over America right now and there are plenty of decent places that would love to have them and their families.
Why grace the state with your presence when it’s clearly not wanted or appreciated..
Laura, I agree we need police officers but they need to be educated starting with the constitutional rights of the people in the United states of America which are violated constantly by police departments across the country.
I watch first amendment audits which are available online and it’s unbelievable how people’s rights are violated by police who insist they know the law when they really don’t.
There are also police who lie about cases they investigate and make it impossible to get the information you need to complete your investigation.
I presented an assault that was videotaped to the Rutland city police department and they have completely lied even though there is video evidence of what took place.
I went to two police commission meetings to be completely beaten up on by Mr Sargent, who is the chair of the police commission, and by our own police chief who is a disgrace to the department.
I have never attended a meeting where public servants screamed at people who were bringing concerns to them.
I was told by Mr Sargent that I belonged in handcuffs because I was assaulted… I never spoke a word to anyone and was attacked.
My sister-in-law and I presented evidence at that those meetings and we were told we were liars even though the evidence is in police hands and on a video.
And the video had been in police hands for at least a month prior to the meeting..
I requested information from the police department months ago and have yet to hear a darn thing back from them.
I don’t believe anyone that would have been placed in my situation would have any kind words for the police department in the city of Rutland Vermont today..
I went to our mayor and I showed him the video and he totally agreed with me but he said he does not have the power to make the police department prosecute criminals for assault.
I also went to the city attorney who basically said the same thing.
After my investigation is done I am hoping to make a video of this complete thing and post it so people can see what is taking place in the city of Rutland Vermont.
I have always supported our police and I still support the good police in our department.
I will never support bad policing.
What is going on in this case is totally disgraceful.
So even though I disagree with the liberal tactics used to attack policemen… I do agree there has to be a process to prosecute bad police and it shouldn’t be through an investigation by their own police department..
I know a lot of people don’t like these first amendment audits but these guys really show the ignorance of some in our police departments even at the highest levels.
We do need to make changes but we do not need to tear our police department’s apart..
There are far too many things going on here for me to list them from posting the minutes online according to state law with the failures of the investigation that was supposedly done… Along with comments from the investigating officer.
And one thing that we need to find out is if police officers are there to defend the public…
I have read things that said the supreme court said they are not.. if not what is their duty to the public?
God bless the police officers who go out with a good heart everyday and do the job to the best of their ability without violating the people that they are there to represent.