UPDATE: The hearing has concluded and it seems like the prosecutor will start presenting her case against McGowan as early as April 21st.
I'll have more on what happened today soon.
Since the next hearing in John McGowan rape trial
starts this afternoon, now is a great time to get everyone caught up in the case against one of the prominent member of the local anti-immigrant community.
As a result of an investigation by the New Milford Police Department, on Monday August 3rd, the 2007 mayoral candidate, former treasurer of the Greater Danbury Chapter of the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, and former vice president / co-founder of the United States Citizens for Immigration and Law Enforcement was arrested and charged with first degree sexual assault.
In a multi-paged police affidavit, the victim, who had a relationship with McGowan, describes the horrific alleged assault.
…he [McGowan] pushed his penis into her anus. When he did this, Victim stated that she asked "What are you doing" and "Stop." Victim states that she arched her back as she initially struggled to to get him out of her. When she did this, McGowan put his right arm around her neck and put her in a headlock.
According to the affidavit, after speaking with representatives at the Women's Shelter in Danbury, the victim went to New Milford Hospital and a police investigation was conducted, which resulted in McGowan's arrest.
According to
CT Defense Lawyer website, first degree sexual assault is a CLASS B felony, if found guilty, the local xenophobe could be sentenced to 1 to 20 years in prison and fined up to 15,000 dollars.
With his long history of inflammatory remarks towards members of the immigrant community, including his call for residents to shoot day laborers on Kennedy Ave, and irrational comments he's spewed on local access television, there was no doubt that McGowan's court case would be out of the ordinary…and as expected, he didn't disappoint those who were following the trial. Here's a quick recap at what's happened in court thus far.
DAY ONE: Strange behaviorHere's what I wrote about day one of the trial.
The only word I can come up with to describe John McGowan's actions in court yesterday is bizarre.
Here's how things went at court yesterday.
I arrived at the courthouse in Litchfield (pictured at the right) around 9:30, took a seat in the gallery, and waited for McGowan's case to be called. Among those in attendance to witness the case was McGowan's BFF (and local anti-immigrant racist/pervert/anti-Semite/male chauvinist Tom "Big(o)T" Bennett as well as several friends of McGowan. Those from the media included yours truly, News-Times reporter John Pirro, and Register-Citizens court reporter Tracy Kennedy.
After the judge heard several cases (and took a short recess to talk to the prosecutors), McGowan's case was finally called...and the fireworks began.
From the start, you had the feeling that McGowan, who was representing himself in court, was going to turn the court hearing into a spectacle...and he basically did just that.
Superior Court Judge James Ginocchio called McGowan's name to come forward from the gallery area but McGowan seemed to refuse and made some statement that no one in attendance could understand (I've requested a transcript of the hearing so I can find out what the hell he was talking about). After being called upon several times, McGowan finally came forward and continued his strange and erratic behavior.
Court reporter Tracy Kennedy for the Register-Citizen accurately recounts the silliness.
John McGowan, 43, 8 Fairchild Drive, appeared for the first time in the Litchfield court Tuesday. After being ordered to come forward from the spectator section, McGowan approached, clutching papers and uttering nonsensical phrases.
“I do not grant jurisdiction in this matter, knowingly or willingly,” McGowan said.
When Ginocchio asked if McGowan had an attorney or planned to represent himself, McGowan referred to himself in the third person, telling the court, “How can a lawyer represent me in my private capacity?” and “Are these charges directed toward me as a natural man?”
News-Times reporter Pirro echos Kennedy's account of what happened.
The 43-year-old McGowan, who lives in Bethel, where he runs an oil business, responded instead with comments rejecting the authority of the state and federal government, and of the courts over individuals.
"Are the charges directed against me as a natural man?" "I do not agree to grant jurisdiction?" and "How can a lawyer represent me in my private capacity?" were among the statements McGowan made during his brief court appearance Tuesday.
After about 5 minutes of this bullshit nonsense, which included McGowan not entering a plea to his charges and one of his supporters uttering some type of remark (which resulted in a quick admonishment from the court bailiff), Judge Ginocchio stated that McGowan seemed "unable to answer the charges with any semblance of coherence" and ordered a psychiatric examination to do done in order to determine of his competency.
McGowan tried to either read a statement to the judge, or have some papers entered into the record, at which point the judge informed him that he needed to send those files to the clerk office and said something along the lines of get "read a book on law and learn how the process works" (or something like that).
Needless to day that driving the distance to Litchfield was worth the trip...
DAY TWO: Excuses, excusesDue to traffic, I was unable to get to the courthouse in Litchfield in time but here's what happened.
Unfortunately, this morning, I was caught in a traffic nightmare on Route 7 so I was late to the courthouse and missed all the festivities but the News-Times John Pirro filled in the blanks:
A Superior Court judge on Tuesday gave former Danbury mayoral candidate John McGowan more time to get a psychiatric examination that will determine whether he is capable of standing trial for first-degree sexual assault.
[...]
"If it's not done by the next court date, it's going to be a different story," Ginocchio said.
Ginocchio ordered the exam during McGowan's first appearance in Litchfield Superior Court, on Sept. 1, when the anti-immigration activist and cable television call-in show host refused to enter a plea and made numerous statements indicating he didn't consider himself subject to the court's jurisdiction.
Ginocchio said at the time that McGowan "appeared unable to answer the charges with any semblance of coherence" and that a psychiatric evaluation was needed to determine if McGowan could understand the charge and assist in his own defense.
I don't' know what was more shocking, the fact that McGowan received a three week extension to get a psychiatric examination done, or McGowan's excuse in not getting the examination done when ordered by the court on Sept 1st.
Later in my update, I explained how McGowan's excuse of lack of transportation doesn't pass the smell test but it was Elise Marciano's friend's documents that he submitted to the court that received the most attention.
If his courtroom demeanor was low-key, that same description couldn't be applied to the sheaves of bizarre papers he has filed in connection with the case.
The thick stack of documents claim to be "powers of attorney" and attachments on various land records, but according to a court clerk are comprised of "legal terms that are strung together but have no legal meaning."
[…]
In some of the papers, McGowan identifies by name the woman who accused him of rape, as well as giving her address and the names of family members, Gallo said.
[...]
Gallo asked the judge for a protective order preventing McGowan from including that information on any documents he files.
DAY THREE (and FOUR): He's competent!Day three and four of the trial centered around whether or not McGowan was competent to stand trial but first, McGowan attempted to make his irrational argument that the court had no jurisdiction over the anti-immigrant activist.
The judge started by granting McGowan an opportunity to argue why he feels that the state has no jurisdiction over him but only to the limit of the competency hearing.
[…]
After being instructed by the judge that he's not going to get into a question and answer session with McGowan regarding "jurisdiction" and that he would only hear his argument (again to the limit of the competency hearing), McGowan continues his bizarre behavior by going on a rant about the court not having jurisdiction over him, which made absolutely no sense to anyone in the court but McGowan and his "supporters."
From how the court had to prove jurisdiction before the case could proceed, to rambling off a series of court cases which, in his mind, back his argument that the state has no jurisdiction over him, when it comes to McGowan representing himself, lets just say that McGowan isn't helping his case.…and remember, McGowan is on trial for FIRST DEGREE SEXUAL ASSAULT which carries up to 20 year in jail YET he still has no attorney AND he's still digging a hole for himself EVER time he opens his mouth.
While McGowan continues to make himself look like an ass, I can't help but think of the hypocrisy of this moron who has made a habit of citing the "rule of law" when it came to his twisted views of undocumented immigrants and how they should be removed because they are here "illegally." Now, here's the same guy trying to say that the same "rule of law" doesn't apply to him when he’s charged with raping someone.
Ah, the irony!
After his incoherent rambling came to a merciful end, Dawn Gallo pretty much sliced McGowan's rant to shreds in what seemed to be less than 60 seconds…I'll try to summarize.
After the prosecutor correctly pointed out that the manner in which McGowan is trying to argue jurisdiction, at the sake of making him look even more foolish (in my opinion of course) prosecutor Gallo basically rips him to shreds by properly stating that McGowan is attempting to use a some federal law that applies to CIVIL cases that have absolutely ZERO meaning in terms of a CRIMINAL matter (such as being charged with raping a person anally). Since a warrant was valid and properly served, McGowan "claim" of jurisdiction doesn't hold water.
Lather, wash, rinse, done.
After the prosecutor made his very easy case against McGowan's jurisdiction nonsense, the judge took about a millisecond to deny McGowan's motion.
Between McGowan's attempt to prove that the state has no jurisdiction over him, and the actual competency case, the anti-immigrant's sidekick and fellow hate-monger,
Tom Big(O)T Bennett couldn't resist making an ass out of himself in court. Here's what happened when the judge attempted to recess the hearing to allow McGowan an opportunity to read the compentency report.
As the bailiff announce the gallery to rise, here's what happened:
BAILIFF: All rise.
Big(O)T: refuses to rise
BAILIFF: ALL RISE PLEASE!!!
Big(O)T; while rising, utters this under his breath "Yeah right."
BAILIFF: Keep you comments to yourself!
Big(O)T: What comment...I grunted
BAILIFF: You said "yeah right"
YOURS TRULY: shaking my head in disbelief
Knowing
this moron's history,, I'm not surprised with Bennett's antics…and he was just getting started.
Remember when I talked about Big(O)T making a scene in the courtroom when he wouldn't rise as the judge exited the chamber? Well, his bullshit didn't stop there.
As I sat down, the bailiff already walked over to Big(O)T and gave him a few words for something. It couldn't have been but a few minutes when, while the prosecution was asking questions regarding McGowan's competency exam, that the judge yelled at Big(O)T
JUDGE: I've been patient…if I hear one more word out of you!
Big(O)T: I apologize.
After Bennett was admonished by the court, a brief competency hearing took place in which it was found that McGowan was fit to stand trial.
DAY FIVE: Bizarre motions to dismiss:The start of the fifth day of the trial began by Judge Ginocchio asking McGowan if:
- he would be representing himself
- if he was aware of the charge against him,
- if he would be representing himself, that he would have to follow the rule of law and CT general statues
- he understood that he had the option of hiring an attorney yet it is not his intention to seek legal counsel
- understood what the prosecution had to prove in this case
- he’s undergoing any mental health issues or seeing a doctor for any mental health issues
In a nutshell, the judge questioned McGowan about self-representation because, unlike the competency hearing, we’re at a stage of the trail when the prosecution is going to present evidence and basically laying out the case against him.
After dealing with the issue of self-representation, Judge Ginocchio moved to the next issue at hand, McGowan’s subpoenas motions to dismiss the case…and lets just say, McGowan’s request are ridiculous to say the least.
According to court records, McGowan issued a series motions to dismiss the case...get ready to shake your head:
Motion 1:
During the time in which Dawn Gallo walked away into the jury box, Judge James Ginocchio was acting as the prosecution.
Motion to dismiss
Motion 2:
I turned myself in and was not immediately brought to a magistrate with jurisdiction, but instead was set to Bantam Court on a different day and then set to Litchfield court on a different day.
Motion to dismiss
Motion 3:
Prosecutor Dawn Gallo walked away during the 1st proceeding stating, "I don't want any part of this" and proceeded to walk to the juror box.
Then conspired with the judge to deny me my sue process by sending me to a psychiatric examination during a time I had to be in court in violation of 18 USC 241 & 242.
Motion to dismiss
Motion 4:
Court clerk hasn't provided to me certified copies of case file required.
Motion to dismiss
Motion 5:
Judge has asked me to set a psychiatric evaluation. I request that you provide me documented evidence that shows you have the authority to order a secured party creditor to do so.
It is not under the jurisdiction of this court, or the jurisdiction of the United States Corporation. Documents have already been provided for you that I am not a citizen of your corporation or under your jurisdiction.
I do not refuse this evaluation. I do require that you give me proof I request before I submit to it. I do not believe you have the authority to order this evaluation and I believe there is no evidence to the contrary.
Any attempt to force me against my will is denial of due process, obstruction of justice, fraud, and racketeering, by the office of the court.
McGowan also filed a series of so-called “subpoenas” against members of the police department as well as the prosecutor who’s handling the case.
DAY SIX: Motions denied.
In a nutshell, I was unable to attend the hearing but if the reports from the court room are any indication, we're one step closer to the prosecutor beginning to roll out the case against McGowan as EVERY SINGLE ONE OF McGOWAN'S MOTIONS TO DISMISS THE CASE PRESENTED TO THE COURT ON THAT DATE WERE DENIED.
That beings us up to today's hearing where McGowan will probably attempt to file more motions to dismiss and hopefully, after dismissing his ridiculous requests AGAIN, the judge will give the prosecutor the green light to start rolling out the case against him.
Related links:
Come on now...does he think anyone in the state is 
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
