misdemeanor - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T01:06:06Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/misdemeanorOcean Ridge: Misdemeanor conviction to stay on Lucibella’s recordhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-misdemeanor-conviction-to-stay-on-lucibella-s-record2020-05-20T18:00:00.000Z2020-05-20T18:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>Businessman and magazine publisher Richard Lucibella has lost his courtroom quest to be cleared of all charges resulting from a backyard dustup with police in 2016 when he was the town’s vice mayor.</p>
<p><br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960945462,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960945462,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="7960945462?profile=original" /></a>The 4th District Court of Appeal affirmed without comment Lucibella’s February 2019 conviction of misdemeanor battery on Ocean Ridge police Officer Richard Ermeri.</p>
<p><br /> The appellate judges delivered comparatively swift justice, issuing a “per curiam affirmed” on April 16, just seven weeks after oral arguments. The court’s website advises that a panel can take up to six months to reach a decision. Despite losing his appeal Lucibella, 66, hailed the overall case as a win. During his criminal trial he was found not guilty of two felonies: resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.</p>
<p><br /> “In the end, I’ll settle for 99% vindication, for now,” he said.</p>
<p><br /> The charges stemmed from an Oct. 22, 2016, confrontation in Lucibella’s backyard as police investigated reports of gunfire phoned in to 911. During a face-off Lucibella poked Ermeri with his finger through the officer’s bulletproof vest, “a forceful poke,” Ermeri, who has since been promoted to sergeant, testified at the original trial.</p>
<p><br /> Leonard Feuer, Lucibella’s appellate lawyer, told the judicial panel on Feb. 25 that Lucibella had a right to defend himself after Ermeri, Officer Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan showed up.</p>
<p><br /> “I’m not seeing this show of force” by the police, Judge Alan Forst said. “Clearly they weren’t invited in, but they didn’t come in with guns blazing.”</p>
<p><br /> Senior Assistant Attorney General Melynda Melear, representing the state, told the judges that Lucibella “walked into” Ermeri’s extended arms before he was arrested.</p>
<p><br /> “It was the defendant who provoked the aggression in the first place,” she said.</p>
<p><br /> Feuer filed a motion on April 27, a Monday, asking the court to rehear the case, issue a written opinion and certify it as “an issue of great public importance.” The judges denied the request the following Friday.</p>
<p><br /> Lucibella criticized the decision.</p>
<p><br /> “In order to issue an opinion, the 4th DCA needed to rule on the legality of these officers entering my property. They chose to kick that down the road by not issuing a written opinion,” Lucibella said.</p>
<p><br /> “Regardless, the (Circuit Court) jury found the officers to be acting outside their authority — that’s why they ruled my actions as simple battery vs. the original charge of battery on a law enforcement officer.”</p>
<p><br /> Lucibella, who is chief executive of an “accountable care organization” for doctors and publishes a magazine for gun aficionados, is still the target of a civil lawsuit by Plesnik that accuses him of battery and negligence. His lawyers in that case have scheduled a deposition of Ermeri in June.</p></div>Ocean Ridge: Judges in Lucibella appeal quiz attorneyshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-judges-in-lucibella-appeal-quiz-attorneys2020-03-04T15:33:33.000Z2020-03-04T15:33:33.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>A panel of three judges at the 4th District Court of Appeal peppered the lawyers on both sides of Richard Lucibella’s simple battery case with questions during oral arguments.<br /> Neither Leonard Feuer, representing the Ocean Ridge resident and onetime town vice mayor, nor Senior Assistant Attorney General Melynda Melear, representing the state, escaped scrutiny.<br /> Lucibella, 66, wants the appeals judges to vacate his February 2019 conviction of misdemeanor battery and tell Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss to enter instead a judgment of acquittal or give him a new trial.<br /> Lucibella was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence and felony battery on a law enforcement officer but guilty of misdemeanor battery, a lesser charge. He was ordered to pay $675 in court costs.<br /> The charges stemmed from an Oct. 22, 2016, altercation in the then-vice mayor’s backyard as town police investigated phoned-in reports of gunfire. During the confrontation Lucibella poked Officer Richard Ermeri through his chest vest.<br /> Part of Feuer’s argument at the Feb. 25 hearing rested on whether Lucibella had a right to defend himself after Ermeri, Officer Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan showed up.<br /> “I’m not seeing this show of force” by the police, Judge Alan Forst said. “Clearly they weren’t invited in, but they didn’t come in with guns blazing.”<br /> Feuer said the officers were “trying to control the scene” and kept “emphasizing their authority. You know, ‘Sit down, sit down, you can’t go inside the house,’” he said. <br /> Presiding Judge Burton Conner was concerned that state law does not allow someone to resist a law enforcement officer who is engaged in the execution of a legal duty “if the law enforcement officer was acting in good faith.”<br /> “Do you agree that the case law interpreting that statute basically says that you cannot use force against an officer if the officer is acting in good faith?” Burton asked. “The Legislature is basically saying to me … you can’t raise a self-defense argument to justify pushing an officer, poking an officer.”<br /> Associate Judge Kenneth Gillespie zeroed in on whether the police were in the backyard “for a lawful purpose.” <br /> “I agree they were trying to investigate shots fired,” Feuer said.<br /> When Melear’s turn came, she emphasized that the record of Lucibella’s trial is “replete with evidence of good faith” by the officers.<br /> But the three-judge panel wanted to know if or when the “exigency” or emergency conditions ended that might allow police to enter a yard without a warrant.<br /> Conner said Ermeri didn’t pat down Lucibella or his companion, police Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, and handed back Lucibella’s gun when he could not unload it.<br /> “That doesn’t quite strike me as demonstrating exigency,” Conner said.<br /> Melear argued that whether Ermeri’s actions were proper was a moot point.<br /> “For simple battery, lawful execution of legal duty is not an element of the crime. For simple battery you simply have an unlawful touching,” she said.<br /> Melear also said Lucibella “walked into” Ermeri’s extended arms before he was arrested.<br /> “It was the defendant who provoked the aggression in the first place,” she said.<br /> The 4th District Court of Appeal issues its opinions on Wednesdays. The panel of judges should render a decision within six months, the court’s website says.</p></div>Ocean Ridge: Appellate judges set date to hear Lucibella casehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-appellate-judges-set-date-to-hear-lucibella-case2020-01-29T17:36:12.000Z2020-01-29T17:36:12.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>Attorneys for Richard Lucibella and the state of Florida will square off for oral arguments before the 4th District Court of Appeal on Feb. 25.<br /> Lucibella, now 66, is appealing his conviction of misdemeanor battery on Ocean Ridge police Officer Richard Ermeri during an October 2016 altercation in his oceanfront backyard. Ermeri and other town police went to the then-vice mayor’s house after residents reported hearing gunfire in the neighborhood.<br /> The opposing attorneys, Senior Assistant Attorney General Melynda Melear for the state and Leonard Feuer for Lucibella, will each get 15 minutes to present their side to a panel of three judges.<br /> “After the judges confer, a decision is made, and an opinion may be written,” says the West Palm Beach court’s website. “Each case presents its own issues and difficulties; in most cases the decision is made within 180 days from the conference.”<br /> Ermeri, fellow Officer Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan went to Lucibella’s backyard while investigating the 911 calls about gunshots; a scuffle ensued.<br /> In his trial last February, Lucibella was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence and not guilty of felony battery on a law enforcement officer but guilty of simple battery. He was ordered to pay $675 in court costs.<br /> He wants the appellate judges to vacate his conviction and order Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss to enter a judgment of acquittal or give him a new trial. Melear asks that the 4th District Court of Appeal affirm Lucibella’s Feb. 21 conviction. <br /> Feuer and Melear will present sharply different views of what happened in Lucibella’s backyard.<br /> Feuer, for example, says Ermeri caused the first instance of violence in this case “by grabbing Lucibella’s shoulders to obstruct his entry into his home or prevent him from obtaining a drink.”<br /> Melear, on the other hand, says Lucibella “poked the officer forcefully in the chest while threatening him” after “he first walked aggressively into the officer’s extended hands and grabbed him by the neck.”</p></div>Ocean Ridge: State says Lucibella’s misdemeanor conviction was properhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-state-says-lucibella-s-misdemeanor-conviction-was-pro2019-10-30T17:55:50.000Z2019-10-30T17:55:50.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br />If Ocean Ridge resident Richard Lucibella believed police were in his backyard illegally when he was arrested in 2016, he should have argued that before his trial began this year and he was convicted of misdemeanor battery, the state Attorney General’s Office says.<br /> But Lucibella, at the time Ocean Ridge’s vice mayor, “did not move to suppress the evidence based on a warrantless entry and search. He did not move pretrial to dismiss the charges based on a warrantless entry,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Melynda Melear writes in her answer to Lucibella’s appeal.<br /> Melear asks that the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach affirm Lucibella’s Feb. 21 conviction. Lucibella wants the appellate judges to vacate his conviction and order Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss to enter a judgment of acquittal or give him a new trial.<br />The case began Oct. 22, 2016, when neighbors called 911 to report hearing gunfire. Ocean Ridge police Officers Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan responded to Lucibella’s backyard; a scuffle ensued.<br /> Lucibella, now 66, was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence and not guilty of felony battery on a law enforcement officer, but guilty of simple battery. He was ordered to pay $675 in court costs.<br /> In her Oct. 16 brief, Melear says Lucibella’s contentions that police were not properly on his property, that there was no probable cause to arrest him and that the officers were trespassing are moot issues.<br /> “Each one of these arguments bears on the element of the battery on a law enforcement officer charge that the officer was engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty,” she writes. The charge of simple battery “does not contain this element but only requires a showing of an intentional unwanted touching.”<br /> Melear’s view of the facts presented at the trial differs sharply from that of Leonard Feuer, Lucibella’s appellate attorney. Feuer, for example, said in his initial brief that “It was undisputed by Ermeri he caused the first instance of violence in this case by grabbing Lucibella’s shoulders to obstruct his entry into his home or prevent him from obtaining a drink.”<br /> Melear’s version: “The evidence not only showed that [Lucibella] poked the officer forcefully in the chest while threatening him, but also showed that he first walked aggressively into the officer’s extended hands and grabbed him by the neck.”<br /> Lucibella’s case may linger into 2021. Feuer’s initial brief and Melear’s answer are the first salvos in the court battle. Generally, it takes two to three months after the last document is filed to get on the District Court of Appeal’s calendar, its website says. A three-judge panel renders its decision in most cases within six months, the website advises.</p></div>Ocean Ridge: Lucibella seeks acquittal or retrial on battery convictionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-lucibella-seeks-acquittal-or-retrial-on-battery-convi2019-10-02T15:14:11.000Z2019-10-02T15:14:11.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>Former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella wants the 4th District Court of Appeal to vacate his February conviction of misdemeanor battery and tell the judge who sentenced him to enter instead a judgment of acquittal or give him a new trial.<br /> Lucibella, 66, was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence but guilty of misdemeanor battery, a lesser charge, instead of felony battery on a law enforcement officer. He was ordered to pay $675 in court costs on Feb. 21.<br /> The charges stemmed from an Oct. 22, 2016, altercation in Lucibella’s backyard as Ocean Ridge police investigated phoned-in reports of gunfire. Officers Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan responded. <br /> In an initial brief filed Sept. 16, Lucibella’s appeals attorney, Leonard Feuer of West Palm Beach, states that Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss erred by not issuing a judgment of acquittal and by denying motions for a mistrial, largely repeating points that Lucibella’s defense team made at the trial.<br /> “The motion for JOA argued the officers, who were investigating a misdemeanor, were trespassing on Lucibella’s property when they entered his enclosed backyard. Thus, the officers could not be engaged in a lawful execution of duty,” Feuer wrote. “Further, the alleged ‘resistance’ amounted to Lucibella stiffening his arm.”<br /> Feuer also complains about prosecutor Danielle Grundt’s asking Ermeri whether Lucibella ever gave a response or explanation for why he had a firearm or why shells were present, to which Ermeri responded no.<br /> “The question and answer amounted to an impermissible comment on Lucibella’s right to prearrest silence and shifted the burden of proof to Lucibella. The remarks directly addressed Lucibella’s right to possess a firearm, which the question itself cast in a negative light, as if Lucibella needed to explain his possession of a firearm at his own house,” Feuer wrote.<br /> Coming next in the appeal case will be a response to Feuer’s brief by Senior Assistant Attorney General Georgina Jimenez-Orosa.<br /> Between the arrest and Lucibella’s trial, Ermeri was promoted to sergeant and Hallahan retired.<br /> Plesnik has filed a civil lawsuit accusing Lucibella of battery and negligence. She testified at his criminal trial that she missed reporting for police duty for several months because of shoulder problems caused by his actions.</p></div>