Free Response - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

04 . Case 3:03-cv—OO692=PCD Document 14-2 Filed 11/10/2003 Page 1 of 4 _ 4
- `` - ll
4 4 _ 4 -4 _ 4 . 4 _,`= _ _ p _ 4 T
4 _` l __ [ WALTER C.4 BANSLEY 4 4 0 4 4 l
y ` 0 0 00 _ ATTORNEY Arr i.Aw=·=0 ‘ ,
*4 4 4 466s4Foxo1§t ROAD 4 4 0 - - 4 -
.» 4 4 03 l _ sums 203 . _ _
4;- - EAST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06513 l
4 4 - i 4 4 _ 4 (203) 469-7945 4 4 44 _ Qi, l
tp _ _ 0 4 (203) ,469-836010 (fax) 4 y ql-
*` ' -4 l 44 [email protected](éinail) 4 _ 4 4 _0
0 4 0 4 4 4 BANSLEYLAIMCOM 4 4 `0
44 mtlsoabmmsn ca 4 _ 4 _ 4 _p _ imitrex uri-mt0.pARarEeAr , :
Ocitober 28, 2002 4 0 4 0 _ 4 0 4 4
The4Honorable Ricihard M. Rittenband 4 4 44 4 4 0 ,
4 Su“ erio0r_ Court for the State of Connecticut 0 0 0 - 4 4
4 Iu_:ge’s Chambersl 4 ` 4 4 ` 4` 0 4
IOQV/ashington Sheet ` 4 _4 4 40 p
Hat“tford,0CT-06106 4 _` 0
_`__ _,;_;;_,___, _A0r0 A 00_0r gw ,;_,r , 0_,4, ____ __0__ _____ ____ _ __-___ _. .... . ..... 4. .A.4 00,, 0.444,.4 . _._.. ...... 44.4 .. .,04r0 4444 442444 4444 .4 .4.4 4 44444 44 44 4444444 44 4 ;
Rei Mark Mason tl. Warden - CV-02-814191 0- 4 0 0 0
l 4 0 4 4 - 4 -4 4
Dehrludge Rittenliathd: 4 0 0 4444 4 . U
Iwilite with respect tb the above referenced Habeas matter and in response to your letter of October
23,§ 20042 by which you advised that Mason is dissatisfied with my representation and also by
` wh ich you request that I furnishyou with th0e status of Mr. Mason’s case; Although I do not _ ?’_ |
bei eve that the atm 4, y client privilege pennits meto di4sclose the actual status of Mr. Mason’s case f
wit Tout an express hiver by`MT. Mason, Ibelieve I0can advise your honor regarding factual matters. 4 p 3
Ialgodo not feel on pfortable having ex parte communications wi4th the trial judge and assuch, I do }_
notlfeel that I can as candid asl refer, but I dofeel com elled to res ond 4to our honor’s letter. l
, p P P P Y 4
I wits only appoint dto represent Mr. Mason as a Special Public Defender on 4J uly 15, 2002. On
Jul§143, 20020, whi t as you will note, was 24days prior to me being appointed to represent Mr.
Magda, I forwards lengthy letter to Mr. Mason detailing myunderstanding ofthe Iaw0 regarding
Ha sag matters an butlining several matters that I thought4 were specific to Mr. Mason’s case. 4 ,
Pursuant to this letter, I needless to say, furnished Mr. Mason with my business address and
telephone number. Per said letter, I also requested that Mr. Mason supply me with a summary of 4 4 Q \
4
--4- li--4
r - I _--- ll I 4 I I . I I I -4.. --_ 4- -4: `[I ` 4 4 0

l . __~· i i l
:= · ` 3;()3-CV-()()59€-|$()[) Document 14-2 Filed 11/€%2003 Page 2 of 4 l
: . J bases upon which he filed the Habeas action and the facts upon which he was relying. I further _ _
. ``' J advised Mr. Mason that at that time I was not “officially" his counsel, but that I anticipated that the
____ I court would in the near future grant the Public Defenders Motion that Ibe appointed as his Special . y
’ I Public Defender and that as such, it would be beneficial if he could furnish the requested infomation
I - as soon as possible. ‘ l
Notwithstanding the foregoing, I made arrangements on July 13, 2002 to visit Mr. Mason at the R
. Osborn Correctional Institution on July I5, 2002 at about noontime. As a result of being delayed
in court and also due to traffic congestion, _I did not arrive at the Osborn Correctional Institution until l l
· 1:15 p.m. It was not permitted a visit with Mr. Mason on July 15, 2002 due presumably to the
bureaucracy of the specific facility as I was told by the intake Corrections Officer that I was "too
Iate" for the visit. I asked that the Corrections Officer inform Mr. Mason that I was present but was ‘ I
. not permitteth entrance. Upon returning to my office, I forwarded a short letter to Mr. Mason I
informing him that I was denied entrance for a visit and again asked that he furnish me with the
- information requested by my letter of July 13, 2002. Needless to say, it was very frustrating being
deniedentranee to the facility after driving from New Haven to Somers particularly since the trip is
not compensated for in any manner.
On September 4, 2002, I forwarded a letter to Mr. Mason again asking that he forward all the
- information I requested and also made it known that I preferred to have the information prior to
arranging a meeting because in my opinion we could have a more productive meeting if I had the
I benefit of the infomation to consider before our first meeting. I stressed that I needed this I
I information as soon as possible as my time was limited because I was due to start a murder trial at l
the beginningrof October, 2002 and that the murder trial would take up a great deal of time. On ‘ - l
I . OCIODQL3,2rU{l2.lagain.fomarded,a,letterto,l\/Ir.”l\/Iasorragain.askingefor.the inforrnati.on-requested - - . - _._._ l
l by my letter of July 13, 2002. Per said letter, I again enclosed a copy of the July 13, 2002 letter. _. '_'`-`_·
p In accordance with this letter, I pointed out to Mr. Mason how difficult Habeas actions are in general, _ I ‘·-`
, but how particularly difficult they are for "guilty" plea cases. In addition to the foregoing, I have . _.‘_ if
secured and rewiewed a copy of Mr. Mason’s file from the Habeas Corpus Unit for the Office of the Z" * Q-
_ Chief Public Defender and have reviewed the same. To date, I have not been able to secure a copy --2 ‘·‘--' I-lf '_:- -jZ-_‘-ff-I
of Mr. Masonls trial counsel’s file since he has refused or neglected to return the authorization I ` `. .-_`.
; forwarded that would permit me to do so. - _-__ .,`ji; __`_. j_: =._
- To date, Ihavei received no communications at all from Mr. Mason with the exception of his express _ . ; -:2-. -_.: ,‘`
complaint through your honor that he is concerned about my apparent "lack of interest and ` "-; -.‘- _-_. '-‘‘*`
- investigation? Ifindit interesting that after several letters, Mr. Mason apparently "lacked interest" ` .._, --‘·`-_ .‘‘.' l
in communicating with me regarding his case and instead of doing so decided to communicate i F: _`-‘ Q ._.-: .3f `_-- T
directly with the Habeas trial judge for the Judicial District in which his case is filed. J ___-- `_ ___·_` Z-`"jgi '=_-‘-‘ _
I note that in your letter of October 23, 2002, you stated that Mr. Mason opined that he has a "valid ‘-._ ·'_’’ Z ‘_.'`- i i·_`-- I ,‘_'-‘ - -‘'- . g, _-'._ E ‘.=i .
petition and wants to go to tria1." Perhaps, Mr. Mason should express the basis for his opinions--to. .-_.--` ‘`.-. -._-._, if r.`E ,-- ::,-Q.2§i`-
‘ his attorney so perhaps his attorney could share in his enthusiasm for his case. In light'ol".`|.hé' I ‘·--‘ ,-``.
foregoing, I must now state that I no longer interested in representing Mr. Mason and rnore. Z ···__: - ·_-, E ,.‘-
2 ` .-- __ {Q:,:,_;__$gi`-ij __.= -‘_` j_-Ep; K
- ,-_ .- ¤__ f _.`__- :·. f ___` a ``__=E 53:;; ._‘‘-. j g r

. `I l
l. I , {Case 3:03-cv-OO69@CD Document 14-2 Filed 1 1€%2003 Page 3 0f 4
. . =`' ` ‘`‘'‘- iirnportantly simply do not believe Ican do so in goodfaith given hisletter of-complaint against me, _
zi : · - jwhich Iconsiderto be defamatory in nature.
{iii i.‘ iii- lPlease be advised that I served on active duty with the United States Marine Corps from 1972 Q
“ ‘ nhrough 1992 at which I retired and moved to Connecticut. I was a Marine judge advocate from `
1981 through my retirementf Please find enclosed a copy of my written evaluations as a Marine
'·'‘': l'udge advocate that will provide some insight as to what others thought of my abilities as an attorney.
. llntil I receivedlyour letter of October 23, 2002, I had never had a complaint filed against me by a _
client or anyone else for that matter. l
Given the complaint filed by Mr. Mason and the fact that he never attempted to communicate with
` ine regarding iris case, I feel I have no other choice than to file Motion to Withdraw from ` l
· representing Mn. Mason. Since Mr. Mason chose to file a defamatory complaint with your honor _ ,
l gainst me rather than first communicating his concems with me regarding the purported basis for .
I Els "valid petition," I have no insight as to the basis for his opinion that I apparently "lack interest"
in his case. Although prior to your letter of October 23, 2002, I believe I maintained an adequa_te
level of interest in Mr. Mason’s case given the totality of the circumstances then present, I now have
no interest at all in the above referenced case due to the adversarial relationship that Mr. Mason has
ereated between tus. It is patentlyobvious and self evident that the attomey client relationship in this
- matter has been irrevocably broken. _ ' .
If your honor requires documentation regarding the assertions made herein, Iwill gladly furnish your i
linonor with copies of all documents referenced herein upon receipt of an authorization from Mr.
Mason directingthat I do so. l
As a sidelight, in the case of Angel Cabellero v. Warden, I attempted to visit my client on October, _ _ l
2002. I had faxed a request to visit Mr. Cabellero earlier in the day requesting permission to visit
liim at about 6:00 p.m. On the evening of October 16, I was delayed at work for fifteen minutes i
and then encountered heavy traffic congestion from New Haven due to the evening rush hour, but ` l
also because we were experiencing very heavy rains at the time. As a result, I arrived at the l
Iilorthern Correctional Facility just before 7:00 p.m; to be advised that I was "too late" for the visit l
as my "appointn1ent” was at 6:00 p.m.. Notwithstanding my complaint at the time, I was, in fact, l
v denied access tor my client. In my opinion, there appears to be a "game" at some correctional · i
‘ facilities to "scrcw" with lawyers representing Habeas inmates. My opinion may be unfounded, but l
_ it is certainly.the perception I have and this combined with the meager compensation furnished by i
the State of Connecticut has resulted in my decision to not accept any additional Special Public n
Defender appointed eases.
Flor the foregoing reason and also due to some other opinions Ihave that would be professional to -
elxpress herein, I have no choice but to withdraw as Mr. Mason’s counsel. If you are _inclined to- ·
respond to Mr. Mason, I respectfully suggest that you recommend to Mr. Mason that in the future ·
that perhaps he should try to communicate with his counsel before he considers it appropriate to file, p
akomplaint with the trial judge. ‘ .
` I

· t Case 3:03-cv-OO692gPCD Document 14-2 Filed 11/li?/2003 Page 4 of 4 y
l _ ';·‘· - ` l O l O .
hank you for your attention to this- matter and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to _
ontact me. i - l
‘ F?.
_‘__ incerely, . H
Walter C. Banslk-ey - _ I
WCB/sf .
cc: Office of the Chief Public Defender, I-Iabeas Corpus Unit
l _ Mark Mason . l
l _ · `
· !
a C l
a 4 N
l
—————--—~——---—-ll·v·r·····—······-—-—-·—····l·~‘··•\ ?_-