A man shot twice while trying to run over an Ansonia police officer was sentenced to four and a half years behind bars after taking a plea deal Tuesday.
Maurice Beall, 35, has been in custody since Feb. 2, 2014, when Derby cops arrested him after he fled Ansonia, where police said he had an altercation with Officer Joseph Jackson on the Maple Street bridge.
Background
Beall was trying to evade a minor car accident on the bridge when he was stopped by Jackson, according to police.
The two got into a struggle. Beall got into his car and struck Jackson while getting away. Jackson suffered a leg injury.
Jackson shot Beall, according to police, striking him in the left arm and in the abdomen.
Authorities believe Beall took off because he had a gun in his car. The weapon was found later that day in Derby.
Article continues after photo showing police at the scene Feb. 2, 2014.
Beall drove to a residence in Derby where he was captured by police and then taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital.
The gun recovered by police was then linked to other Valley crimes.
Nearly a year and a half after his initial arrest, Shelton cops lodged new charges against Beall, alleging he illegally possessed a handgun in connection to a 2010 raid at a Howe Avenue home.
That charge was the result of DNA tests ordered by a judge to see whether the bloody gun found in Derby after he was shot in Ansonia was his.
It was, according to the DNA tests.
Plea
On Tuesday Beall pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine before Judge Peter Brown to charges of attempting to assault a police officer and criminal possession of a handgun.
Under the Alford doctrine, a defendant doesn’t agree with all of the prosecution’s accusations but concedes that a conviction is likely if the case went to trial.
He also admitted violating a probationary term in a 2010 drug case.
Beall’s lawyer, Gregory Cerritelli, disputed the police account of his client’s run-in with Jackson.
He even took the police department to a Freedom of Information Commission hearing to get access to Jackson’s personnel file.
The hearing attracted the attention of the Hartford Courant’s Matthew Kauffman, who used it as an example to argue for tougher transparency laws.
Beall’s lawyer said the multiple counts against his client exposed him to serious prison time, so taking a plea deal in the Ansonia case was the best option.
Cerritelli said on Wednesday that even if he had won a trial in connection to the shooting, the probation violation charge could have seen Beall sentenced to more than seven years behind bars.
The lawyer said his client still disputes the official narrative of what happened on the Maple Street bridge.
Cerritelli said he hoped Ansonia cops would do their own internal investigation of Jackson’s use of force.
“I think the resolution certainly reflects the fact that there were serious levels of doubt as to whether or not that use of force was necessary,” he said. “Judging by the trajectory of the bullets entering the vehicle, he (Beall) was not in line with Officer Jackson.
Ansonia Police Chief Kevin Hale said Thursday the state police investigation into the incident was given to the chief’s state’s attorney’s office in Milford. The investigations cleared Jackson, Hale said.
The Ansonia Police Department received the state police probe of the shooting about a month ago. Hale said they are sifting through the document to make sure no internal Ansonia police procedures were violated.
Hale said the bottom line is that a dangerous person is off the street.
“A convicted felon is going back to prison,” the chief said.
Use Of Force Report Not Made Public
Meanwhile, the results of a state police probe of the shooting are firmly ensconced somewhere in the state’s bureaucracy.
State police would not release a copy to the public Wednesday.
A copy could be made available at some point in the summer if a reporter paid $16 and put the request in writing.
The Valley Indy sent a freedom of information request Wednesday.
Although the state police didn’t release their report, the Valley Indy obtained a letter which references the investigation from Kevin D. Lawlor, the state’s attorney for the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District,
Lawlor states that state police fully investigated Beall’s allegation that Jackson used excessive force and “illegally discharged his firearm.”
Lawlor reviewed the incident and found the evidence insufficient.
“Therefore, I am not requesting your agency take any further action in this investigation,” Lawlor said in an Oct. 15 letter to a lieutenant from the state police Western District Major Crime Unit.
