News for Norm Pattis

The city rarely gets to host an honest-to-goodness Russian oligarch.
But there Shalva Chigirinsky was, pacing the fifth floor of the Fairfield County Courthouse on Tuesday in an impeccably tailored suit, amidst the poor and disenfranchised.
The 67-year-old Chigirinsky was once considered one of Russia’s richest men, with a fortune estimated by Forbes at $1.6 billion. But that was before his divorce in 2009 from Tatiana Panchenkova, a willowy blond and daughter of a former...

A Yale student who was acquitted earlier this year of sexually assaulting a female student reportedly has been suspended by university officials in the wake of allegations by a former male friend of his that he sexually assaulted him.
Saifullah Khan was notified several days ago by Yale College Dean Marvin M. Chun that he was suspended immediately from Yale College because of an “emergency,” according to the Hartford Courant.
The letter by Chun to Khan reportedly said...

A Yale student has asked a Superior Court judge to lift a suspension imposed by the university on Sunday after the Yale Daily News reported sexual assault allegations against him.
Saifullah Khan filed papers Wednesday asking the New Haven Superior Court to permit him to return to classes and to order the university to provide him with an escort or bodyguard to protect him from other students and faculty members.
On Wednesday, a Superior Court judge said a decision could not be made...

A local nurse, convicted last year after a third trial of killing a 20-year-old college student and scattering her body parts in Trumbull, is now being represented by his fourth lawyer.
Attorney Norman Pattis filed paperwork in Superior Court here to represent Jermain Richards in his appeal on Wednesday.
“I think he has excellent prospects on appeal,” Pattis said as he left the Fairfield County Courthouse.
Richards, a private-duty nurse, was found guilty of murder...

Embattled New Haven police Lt. Ray Tennant went from the hospital psychiatric ward Tuesday directly to court to face charges of beating his wife.  He's also accused of holding his wife and their children hostage in their Tolli Terrace home for eight days.  
A prosecutor read a list of allegations to the judge, including claims he "assaulted his wife with a Lysol can causing her a swollen right eye."
The ordeal prompted a SWAT standoff his high profile lawyer, Norm Pattis,...

Jury selection is set to begin in the case of a man accused of threatening court officials after having been convicted and sentenced to prison for threatening a state judge.
Edward Taupier, of Cromwell, was charged last year with inciting injury to persons or property and threatening. Police said he created Facebook posts urging people to kill court employees and referenced officials at Middletown Superior Court.
Jury selection is expected to begin Thursday in New London Superior...

Jury selection is set to begin in the case of a man accused of threatening court officials after having been convicted and sentenced to prison for threatening a state judge.
Edward Taupier, of Cromwell, was charged last year with inciting injury to persons or property and threatening. Police said he created Facebook posts urging people to kill court employees and referenced officials at Middletown Superior Court.
Jury selection is expected to begin Thursday in New London Superior...

After Ari Goldstein’s hearing last week on sexual assault charges, his attorney said the accuser had ulterior motives — that it is simply a case of “#MeToo gone wild.”
“The atmosphere of #MeToo,” attorney Perry de Marco Sr. said in an interview Tuesday, “has infected this case.”
The point of #MeToo, the movement that originated on social media and has brought down dozens of powerful men accused of everything from workplace...

There have been Mile High Club stories for as long as there have been airplanes — or at least, it feels that way.
With so much information circulating the internet on “how to” join, it's obvious people are intrigued by the Mile High Club, even if they have yet to join. But what are the rules on airlines? How much trouble could you get in? While it might sound fun and exciting, no one wants to get arrested for getting busy on a plane.
When it comes to repercussions...

The state’s arbitration board has ordered the city to rehire veteran Police Officer Daniel Sellner.
Sellner was fired three years ago after the city accused him of using excessive force during an arrest.
The arbitration board’s decision marks the second time in the last two months that city officials have been ordered to rehire a police officer. A Superior Court judge ruled in April that the city should have issued a suspension instead of firing Officer Chris Belair two...