News

By Steve Plunkett

Former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella has rebuffed “multiple offers” to settle felony charges against him without going to trial, his prosecutor said.
“Just so the record’s clear, what was the offer? Was it rejected? I mean, just trying to understand,” Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss asked at a status hearing Sept. 5.
“There were multiple conditions that were bounced around back and forth,” Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt replied.
Lucibella will return to Weiss’ courtroom Oct. 12 for her ruling on Grundt’s motion to limit what attorneys and witnesses for Lucibella can tell the jury. His trial was rescheduled to Jan. 28.
Lucibella, 65, is charged with battery on an Ocean Ridge police officer and resisting arrest with violence, both felonies, and a misdemeanor count of using a firearm while intoxicated. The charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.
Police went to Lucibella’s backyard Oct. 22, 2016, when neighbors reported hearing gunfire. He resigned from the Town Commission seven weeks later.
Lucibella’s first trial date was in April 2017 but was postponed several times. Most recently it was to start Aug. 20, but Grundt’s motion derailed that schedule.
Grundt wants to keep Lucibella and defense lawyer Marc Shiner from referring to Lucibella’s age or suggesting that the case is politically motivated, among other things.
Such statements would “inflame the jury,” she argued in her motion.