Crime Scene

Today’s massive snow storm adjourned testimony in Carlos Herring’s trial on charges of murdering Don Juan Thompson II. The trial is scheduled to continue Monday morning in the County Courthouse in New City.

Herring shot Thompson five times in the chest, stomach, arm, leg and back as he fell to the ground in the parking lot outside Club Horizon in Spring Valley. Herring claims the shooting was justified because he felt his life was threatened. The prosecution claims it was intentional murder.

More eyewitness testimony was expected today, along with Spring Valley police detectives telling the jury about what led to Herring being charged. All that was adjourned until Monday, when Florida police officers who arrested Herring also will testify. They get preference because they are scheduled to go back to Florida.

Judge Catherine Bartlett, who lives in Orange County, planned ahead on Thursday. If the weather was harsh and schools closed, court would be cancelled today. The weatherman sustained the judge’s decision.

Today was not the trial’s first delay. The trial started Monday afternoon after week-long jury selection was completed. But Bartlett’s instructions on trial rules and opening statements to the jury by prosecutor Beth Finkelstein and defense lawyer John Edwards were delayed for close to an hour. The reason: a juror’s car broke down in Haverstraw.

And while court is scheduled to start at 9:30-9:45 a.m., Bartlett rarely starts until 10-10:15 a.m. And the afternoon sessions – after lunch – usually start a half-hour late, at least. The trial has drawn a dozen of Thompson’s family and friends, as well as Herring’s family and rial watchers. They either sit or wander around outside the courtroom waiting for the testimony to start.

Bartlett also is a stickler for her rules and doesn’t tolerate rule-breakers – whether lawyers or members of the public.

On Wednesday, an older woman didn’t turn off her cell properly and it rang during court. This came after Bartlett warned the public about turning off cell phones. Bartlett ordered her banned from the courtroom. The woman was there to support her son, David Reginald Davenport, a childhood friend of Thompson and who was going to testified that he saw Herring shoot Thompson.

Bartlett also wants lawyers in the courtroom ready to to when she’s arrives. She also doesn’t want a lawyer giving reasons behind their objections to her rulings on trial issues or objection to their adversary’s questions. She just wants them to object, hear her decision and move on.

Bartlett, whose husband is the Orange County GOP chief, was appointed to the state Court of Claims by Republican Gov. George Pataki. She was assigned to Rockland County Court last year by 9th Judicial District Administrative Judge Francis Nicolai when the county was short two judges.

She has convinced Nicolai to let her stay in Rockland, rather than be assigned elsewhere in the state, even though the county now has three elected judges.

The only County Court judge elected by Rockland voters sitting on County Court is Victor Alfieri. Judge Charles Apotheker has been assigned to Rockland Family Court and long time Judge William Nelson has been state Supreme Court cases for years. State Supreme Court Justice William Kelly, a former County Court judge, handles criminal cases with Alfieri and Bartlett.