A judge at Superior Court in Derby on Friday transferred a drug possession case against fired Shelton police officer Loren Casertano to Milford, where the ex-cop’s lawyer said the case will end with a “guaranteed acquittal.”
Casertano was arrested by state police last month on charges he had painkiller pills, in addition to vials and syringes containing testosterone, in his police department locker a day before he was fired last May.
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In court Friday, Casertano appeared briefly before Judge Burton Kaplan, who transferred the case to Superior Court in Milford, where Casertano is scheduled to appear on April 23.
Outside the courthouse, Serafinowicz said prosecutors requested the transfer and that the case would end in a not guilty verdict for Casertano.
“We’re going to wind up trying it to a verdict,” Serafinowicz said. “My client has prescriptions for every one of the medications that was found in his locker.”
The lawyer said Casertano had the medications because of valid medical issues which police officials were aware of, calling Casertano’s recent arrest “nothing but retaliation” for complaining about the department.
“At no time was he dependent on them, at no time was he exceeding the dosage,” Serafinowicz said. “He had a right to have those medications and it pretty much ends there.”
Serafinowicz added that after his client is acquitted, he will present the city officials with a $50,000 legal bill. State law will obligate them to pay up, he asserted.
The lawyer also predicted his client would triumph at a hearing Monday before the state Labor Department’s Board of Mediation and Arbitration and be reinstated to his old job.
Casertano also has a federal lawsuit against the city pending in which he alleged he was fired for trying to uncover corruption in the police department. His lawyers are involved with settlement talks with the city in the case.
Shelton Police Chief Joel Hurliman has consistently denied Casertano’s allegations but declined to comment specifically on the recent arrest Thursday night at City Hall, where he had attended a meeting of the Board of Aldermen.
Hurliman was out of his office Friday.
