Mapison County District ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, nant rte ‘cont Rei Ante Si = Hon, WILLIAM G. Gabor ia rat pene District ATTORNEY ee ae ep Vsernettencrl ling Tepe: ass66-296 Mem Ader November 017 Th Oneida Daily Dispatch 130 Broad Street (Omida, New York 13421 RE: People », Michael Stevens, Index No, 2016-0136 To the Editor: | am weiting to express my continuing disgust that your paper ~ both in print and on the itemmet continues to find it acceptable to publish the names of young children who have been victims of verbal and physical aouse as evidenced by your recent articles on the Michael Stevens case, By my count, Mr. Stevens" children were victimized at least three times by this criminal prosecution. The first time was when their father decided to brutally attack their mother. The second time was when it was necessary to put them on the witness stand in order to prove the case against Mr, Stevens. The third and final time is when you decided to use their names in the ancl ‘The effect of your article was to subject innocent children to ridicule and shame in the community. You re-victimized them with no apparent concern for their mental well-being. You caused _an injury to these children that our office and the school distriet have done our best clean up. When the objections of both our office and the Oneida City School Distriet were bluntly brought to your attention, you continued to demonstrate your callousness by filing o address the issue, get back to us with any reasoned response, and by continuing to write articles with the children's name in the story. | find it beyond belief that your paper would engage in such conduct. It discredits everyone at “your paper ané leaves me wondering ifthere isa single adult there withthe slightest bit of judgment. As the famous songwriter Woody Guthrie once penned in "The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd”, “Some men .will rob you with a shotgun and some with a fountain pen.” Your weapon of choice was the fountain en, but it was ust as emotionally lethal to these children and you should be ashamed.[have enclosed my comments to the Court about your intial article. These comments were made outside the presence of the jury. | invite you to publish ths leer and those comments. | fear you Will not oF will edit them into maaninglessnere, but atleast Iwill know that I gave you the opportnity todo the right thing for once in this case, Sincerely, ROBERT A. MASCARI (Chief Assistant District Attorney Ene. ce. Mary Margaret Zehr (w/ ene.) ‘Superintendent ~ Oneida City School Disteiet Hon. Patrick J. O°Sullivan (w/ ene.) Madison County Court Judge John Respante. Eag.(/ ene.) ‘Attorney for Michael Stevens Hon, William G. Gabor (w/ ene.) Madison County District Attomey10 n 12 aa 14 16 ry 18 as 20 aa 22 23 24 25 COUNTY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK couNtY OF MADISON THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Index Wo. 2016-0136 > against - (excerpt from Jury Trial) MICHAEL S. STEVENS, Defendant, Madison County Courthouse 181 Kenwood avenue oneide, wew York 13421 october 26, 2017 BEFORE: HONORABLE PATRICK J. 0'SULLIVAN, Judge Presiding APPEARANCES WILLIAN G. GABOR, ESQ, District attorney Madison County BY: ROBERT A. MASCARI, E50. Assistant District Attorney JOHN J. RASPANTE, ESQ Avtorney for the Defendant (Defendant present.) MICHELLE L. CHRIST, Official Court Reporter2 a MR. MASCARI: Judge, the reason I'm late this 2 morning, and it's with great reluctance thet I ask The Court 3 to indulge me for a few minutes and I woule ask that this be 4 marked Court's a. 5 THE COURT: okay. ‘ MR. MASCARI While I'm having that marked, 1 7 actually had other copies made and I'm providing one to Mr: 8 Raspante because I feel one, what I'm asking to have marked. 9 a5 Court's A needs to be addressed by The Court with the 10 jury, at least by way of a general admonition about reading newspaper articles; and two, the article has left me in such 12 a state of distress that were it not for the fact that we a3 are going to be Listening and watching a video, 1 would Ma honestly be asking The Court to put trial off today 18 The comments I'm about to make, and I will tell the 16 reporter already, that T wish that a transcript be made as u s00n a5 possible so that the appropriate tine, pezhaps the 18 Oneida Dispatch will have the good grace to publish ay a9 comments. 20 What I would say for the record, Judge, I grew up 2 in an environment that distrusted attorneys somewhat. 22 Because my father was in law enforcenent, he sometimes told 23 fhe attorneys had a way of hiding the truth. He sometimes 24 told me that prosecutors had @ way of screwing up good 25 cases. But he respected attorneys. and, of course, the10 n a aa aa 16 a 18 as 20 22 23 24 words he used were a little more colorful than I'm putting on the record right now. He was both shocked and pleased when I decided to become an attorney. For 28 years I've been an attorney, and in an age when we're not always respected, I've loved it and I know that both Mr. Raspante and The Court have treated the practice of law in the sane way. And I think one of swe obligations in being an attorney is to deal openly and honestly and candidly wi: the press. And in my 30 years, 35 years, I'm always endeavored to do that in a way that was professional, ethical and protected the rights of victims. There is no bigger fan of the First Amendment than me With that background, I woke to discover and to be contacted by the superintendent of Oneida Schools that there is an article in the Oneida Dispatch this morning that can only be classified as child abuse, plain and simple; an article about our trial where the Oneida Oiepatch had the complete lack of professional judgment to publish the names of those two young, innocent female witnesses who had to testify in this trial the other day. And in doing so, to reflect how they were on the stand and to reflect that their parents use drugs and have abused each other. Bt ds wrong on every level. We are talking about the fifth estate who will do so much to protect the right ofa0 a a2 14 as 16 uv 18 a 20 a 22 23 2 28 sources, to protect the rights of defendants, to seemingly be the guardian of the public's morals and good judgment and yet they could publish an article that is an act of child abuse. It is wrong on every level. It was unprofessional and it leaves me shaking with anger. When X learned of this and spoke to the superintendent and learned that they are meeting this morning to try and figure out sone way to minimize the damage to these children, I expressed my outrage and immediately called the Oneida Dispatch, spoke to a managing editor, was very blunt in my absolute horror, disgust and revulsion at the article that they decided to print, asking then, doss your reporter not have any judgment and do you not have an editor above that reporter that has the slightest bit of juagment. Tt was at least conveyed to me that steps would be taken mediately to try to rectify the best we can. once Something is in print, what again, as I say, is an act of child abuse, let alone the potential impact it could have on any jury that happened to read the paper unwittingly this morning, it was wrong and they have the right to do it, but they do not have the moral right to do it and it was reprehensible and the reporter should know that Thank you, Judge THE COURT: Thank you. Mr. Raspante, do you wish10 a 12 aa a5 16 uv 18 Fry 20 a 22 23 2a 25 to say anything at ali? MR. RASPANTE 1 couldn't possitly add anything more to that, your Honor. Thank you THE COURT: So that being said, what I'll do is, Twill remind the jury, although 1 think T've been doing it an awful lot, but I will make an effort to stress that we'll otart eff the morning with that. Okey? HR. MASCARI: Thank you court: right.STATE OF NEW YORK: COUNTY OF MADISON : E, MICHELLE L. CHRIST, Official court Reporter, do hereby certify that the foregoing transcript is @ true and accurate transcription of my verbatim stenographic notes nade in the Matter of People versus Michael S. Stevens held on October 26, 2017. 12 13 Mu Michelle L. christ as official court Reporter 16 a7 19 20 a