Minutes & Decisions of the Meeting of the Board on Thursday, July 10, 2008, at the Department of Public Safety, Room 348, 1111 Country Club Road, Middletown, CT.
Board Members Present: Temporary Chair Joseph T. Corradino, Esq., Chief T. William Knapp (Ret.), Mr. Peter Kuck, Col. Eric C. Nelson and Mr. Kenneth Tramadeo.
Board Members Absent: Christopher R. Adams, Esq. and Mr. Arthur Carr
Attorney Corradino, Temporary Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:27.
Secretary Corradino called for a motion to dismiss the appeals shown as listed on the June and July dormancy lists. Mr. Tramadeo made the motion to dismiss the appeals on those dormancy lists, Col. Nelson seconded the motion. Corradino, Knapp, Nelson and Tramadeo voted to dismiss, Kuck opposed. Motion passed.
Corradino called the motion proposed by Chief Knapp, to move the Chairman’s Report and the Secretary’s ReporT to the end of the agenda. Chief T. William Knapp made the motion and Mr. Tramadeo seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Corradino called the motion proposed by Chief Knapp, to instruct staff to routinely schedule the appeal hearings first and schedule Chairman’s Report and the Secretary’s Report to follow on the agenda. Chief T. William Knapp made the motion and Mr. Peter Kuck seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Corradino called a roll call of all appellants scheduled and witnesses were sworn.
Item C. Cases scheduled:
1) Case 219-06, Mark Ferraro, revocation, remanded by Judge Levine, Superior Court to the Board. Atty. Corradino ordered the case to be continued to August 7, 2008. (Verbatim minutes to be provided before Aug. 7, 2008 hearing.)
2) Case No. 051-07, Rashid Williams involving the revocation of his state pistol permit to carry pistols and revolvers. Mr. Williams appeared on his own behalf. Lt. Alaric Fox represented the Department of Public Safety, with two witnesses.
Decision: By a majority vote, the Board decided to uphold the decision of the Department of Public Safety, to revoke Mr. Williams’s state pistol permit. Corradino, Knapp, Nelson and Tramadeo voted for the issuing authority, Kuck for the appellant.
Chairman Corradino called for a motion proposed by Chief Knapp to advance the Sept. 4, 2008 meeting to the second Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008. Chief Knapp made the motion and Mr. Tramadeo seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Case No. 246-06, Justin Pitney, requested, because of death in the family, that his case to be rescheduled to the September 11, 2008 hearing date. Atty. Corradino with Lt. Alaric Fox, Department of Public Safety agreed to reschedule.
Case No. 006-04, Steven Blackburn involving the revocation of his state permit to carry pistols and revolvers. Mr. Wiacek failed to appear. Lt. Aleric Fox represented the Department of Public Safety.
Atty. Corradino declared judgment entered upholding the Commissioner by default.
3) Case No. 280-07, Larry McLaughlin involving the revocation of his state permit to carry pistols and revolvers. Attorney Ralph Sherman represented the appellant. Lt. Alaric Fox represented the Department of Public Safety with one witness.
Decision: By a unanimous vote, the Board decided to overturn the Department of Public Safety and reinstate Mr. McLaughlin’s pistol permit.
4) Case No. 112-07, Dwayne Blackwood involving the revocation of his state permit to carry pistols and revolvers. Mr. Blackwood appeared on his own behalf. Lt. Alaric Fox represented the Department of Public Safety with two witnesses.
Decision: By a unanimous vote, the Board decided to overturn the Department of Public Safety and reinstate Mr. Blackwood’s pistol permit.
5) Case No. 059-07, Doreen Raymond involving the revocation of her state permit to carry pistols and revolvers. Ms. Raymond appeared on her own behalf. Sgt. Douglas Hall represented the Department of Public Safety with one witness.
Decision: By a unanimous vote, the Board decided to uphold the decision of the Department of Public Safety, the revocation of Ms. Raymond’s pistol permit.
6) Case No. 123-07, Clifford Joseph involving the denial of a temporary state permit to carry pistols and revolvers. Mr. Joseph appeared on his own behalf. Sgt. Douglas Hall, Department of Public Safety represented Chief Brent Larrabee, Stamford Police Department, the local issuing authority, with one witness.
Decision: By a unanimous vote, the Board decided to uphold the decision of Chief Brent Larrabee, to deny the temporary pistol permit at this time.
7) Case No. 056-07, John Muzzulin involving the revocation of his state pistol permit to carry pistol and revolvers. Mr. Muzzulin appeared on his own behalf. Sgt. Douglas Hall represented the Department of Public Safety, with one witness.
Decision: By a majority vote, the Board decided to uphold the decision of the Department of Public Safety, to revoke Mr. Muzzulin’s state pistol permit. Corradino, Knapp, Nelson and Tramadeo voted for the issuing authority, Kuck for the appellant.
Item A. Chairman’s Report/Approval of Minutes:
Atty. Corradino called for a motion to accept approval of the June 10, 2008 minutes. Chief Knapp made a motion to accept the minutes, Mr. Kuck seconded the motion, motion passed unanimously.
Item D. Cases scheduled & resolved after DPS review:
Kuck reiterated his request the Department of Public Safety’s reasons for revocation and the reasons the permits are reissued and believes the Board itself should review the cases and not be a rubber stamp.
Corradino stated at this point because the permit has been issued or an attempt to issue has been manifested, there is no case of controversy for the Board to make a judgment on.
Case No. 089-07 was continued to September to accommodate the issuing authority witness and the appellant.
Item A. Chairman’s Report
Attorney Corradino called for approval of June 12, 2008 meeting minutes. Col. Nelson made the motion, Chief Knapp seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Subcommittee Reports:
Acting Chairman Chief Knapp reported, after listening to many people, questions to staff, and the police research, Mr. Tramadeo and he thought it would be a good idea to meet for an additional meeting to hear denials alone, as a way to reduce the backlog. There will be an additional meeting on July 24th. Sgt. Hall and Lt. Fox, passed along to the subcommittee, that the Commissioner has said he would cooperate fully with the subcommittee and review cases scheduled for July 24.
Attorney Corradino stated that Chief Knapp had indicated that one of the ideas percolating in the subcommittee and which Corradino has acted on unilaterally as the Secretary is to increase the number of meetings of the Board. Corradino stated that in previous discussions, not all members were able to meet twice a month, due to other commitments etc. and Corradino thought it would be reasonable to add one additional meeting quarterly, thereby increasing the number of meetings by four meetings a year. Corradino said by having the additional meetings, the number of cases heard will increase by a third, making a substantial dent in the backlog. Corradino asked staff to scheduled 4 additional meetings to be added in the months of October, January, April and July, which will be held on the already scheduled alternate dates in those months. Corradino stated it hasn’t been determined to add all cases or just denials.
Chief Knapp pointed out that this was a unilateral decision and that the issue was still on the table. Chief Knapp also reported that at the last subcommittee meeting, Mr. Peruta appeared and introduced into the record a volume of papers that he obtained from the Department of Public Safety June 25th that is now part of the administrative record of the Board. Peruta wanted to a copy to be given to all members of the Board, however due to the volume of the report, a copy will be kept at the office of the Board.
Any other matters to come before the Board:
1) Peruta vs. DPS, BFPE & POST requested by Mr. Kuck.
Mr. Kuck stated that it is a question of conflict of interest for him because he doesn’t see how Atty. Beizer can represent the Board when he represents the DPS, the Board, and POST without coming back to the various organizations and bring before them that which he is representing about. Kuck said, unfortunately we are not always on the same side of the issue as DPS, and to have Atty. Beizer go before the court saying that he represents DPS, the Board and POST without bringing the issue back before us, Kuck doesn’t understand how that can be done. Kuck believes that an attorney should be talking to his clients about the position they want to take in court such as declaratory rulings.
Atty. Corradino said that Sgt. Hall, Lt. Fox, Sgt. Mancini, Sgt. Rosado and he are all professionally government lawyers just like Atty. Beizer. Consequently, when government lawyers speak for the government, that’s different then when private lawyers speak for the client and are controlled by the client. The Attorney General represents the state and all its agencies and makes all the decisions that clients would ordinarily make in private practice. The reason is because sometimes agencies may differ but the Attorney General has the overall interest of the state in mind so consequently he is allowed to make those decisions. DPS Commissioner, the Board or Post may have a different take on the issues; but it really doesn’t matter because the state has to present a unified answer.
2) Policy and Procedure Manual
Mr. Kuck requested the staff to produce the policy and procedure manual and was given the DAS policy and procedure manual. He was looking for a policy and procedure manual for the Board specifically. Kuck wanted to make a motion that the subcommittee to create a policy and procedure manual. Corradino moved that the subcommittee to examine the policies. Chief Knapp stated that was on the suggestion list for the subcommittee to review. Corradino stated his motion was moot since the subcommittee was reviewing Mr. Kuck’s proposal.
Change of Board meeting dates.
Chief Knapp made a motion, now that Board’s meeting date was changed from Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 to Sept. 11, 2008, to change the backup date of Sept. 18, 2008 to Sept. 25, 2008. Mr. Tramadeo seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment:
Mr. Keith Golnik suggested that the Department of Public Safety follow the example of the Department of Motor Vehicles, place a statement on the pistol permit, that a person must notify DPS of a change of address within 48 hours.
Corradino called for a motion to adjourn. Kuck made a motion to adjourn, Tramadeo seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Adjournment at 7:40 PM.
