Judge questions request for funds in defense of driver
May 22—SALEM — A Salem District Court judge said she wants time to consider a private attorney's request for public funds to pay expert witnesses in the case against a driver charged with killing an off-duty Salem police officer last year.
Michael Cerulli was hired by the family of Juan Marinez, 26, of 4 First St., Salem, to defend him in the motor vehicle homicide case stemming from the death of Salem police patrolman Dana Mazola last June. A state police investigation concluded that Marinez was speeding and had crossed the center line when his car collided with Mazola's, killing the officer.
Last month Cerulli filed a motion seeking funds to hire experts, including a crash reconstruction expert, a medical examiner and a private investigator.
He said the experts would review the reports prepared by state police and the state medical examiner's office, and would also interview potential witnesses — something the defense routinely does in criminal cases.
But Salem District Court Judge Carol-Ann Fraser expressed some concern during a hearing Friday that taxpayers are being asked to pay for those experts at the same time Marinez is able to have private counsel of his choice — something that is not usually available to indigent defendants.
Cerulli acknowledged that the case will rely largely on expert witness testimony, then told the judge, "It's French to me, and I don't speak French."
Cerulli said his client returned to work only three weeks ago, as a sales representative, and cannot afford to pay experts to help defend him.
"Here's what I struggle with," Fraser told Cerulli. "It seems recently private counsel have been coming in to ask for funds. If I have an indigent person before me, they don't get to choose who represents him." In this case, however, Marinez was able to choose his own lawyer.
"Surely when you took the case on you knew you would have experts," Fraser told the lawyer, going on to suggest that it should have been part of his calculation of how much it would cost to take the case.
Cerulli said he could find nothing in the law or any prior cases that prohibit judges from providing funds for experts when a defendant, even one with private counsel, is later found indigent.
He also said that if the motion is denied, he could be forced to withdraw from the case.
Cerulli did withdraw one of the requests, saying the expert he wants to hire to examine the accident reconstruction report is a retired state trooper who also works as a private investigator and who would be willing to interview witnesses. He said that expert has agreed to work at the lower rate charged to the state if hired.
Fraser said she will make a decision within a week.
It is not without precedent for a judge to approve public funds requests from privately-hired lawyers. Last October, a Salem Superior Court judge approved the use of taxpayer funds to pay a tax expert to take part in the defense of John Donovan of Hamilton, a former MIT professor and business executive who is charged with forging documents in a failed effort to reclaim millions of dollars in land holdings from his late son's estate.
In reaching that decision, Judge Salim Tabit acknowledged some similar concerns but also said he did not want to further delay the trial or leave a potential avenue of appeal by denying the request.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis.
