Alex Hernandez

Darien High School Senior Arrested Following Assault of New Canaan Juvenile Seeks a Form of Parole

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[Editor’s Note: This article has been updated by removing the name of at least one arrested teen whose charges were dismissed.]

One of the Darien High School seniors arrested following the widely discussed assault of a New Canaan juvenile one night last month is seeking a form of parole to address criminal charges leveled against him, officials said Wednesday. An attorney for 18-year-old Brian Minicus said during an appearance at state Superior Court that that his client is applying for accelerated rehabilitation or ‘AR.’

Wearing a light blue shirt, pink-striped tie, tan slacks and blazer, Minicus was sworn in by Judge Alex Hernandez and offered short responses as to standard questions about his own criminal history—he has no prior convictions—and his understanding of the AR program. Minicus is scheduled to appear next on Jan. 17. His attorney, Stamford-based Stephan Seeger, said in an interview with NewCanaanite.com following the arraignment, “We are hopeful that through this process and discussions with the attorney for the victim that we may resolve this case in a forthright and expeditious manner.”

The lawyer for the “complaining witness” or victim, New Canaan-based criminal defense attorney Matthew Maddox, was present during the arraignment and identified himself to Hernandez as such.

Alex Hernandez

Underage Drinking Party Fallout: New Canaan Teen Enters Program To Have Criminal Charges Dismissed [UPDATE]

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[Note: This article has been updated since charges against the arrested people have been dropped.]

The New Canaan teen arrested last month after police found that he had hosted and supplied alcohol for an underage drinking party where a juvenile suffered serious injuries is to enter a program that will see criminal charges dismissed next year on its successful completion, officials said Thursday morning. The terms of the program that the 18-year-old will enter are unclear, as details of the deal struck between the state’s attorney’s office and lawyers representing the 2017 New Canaan High School graduate are sealed, according to a court clerk at state Superior Court in Norwalk. Arraigned before Judge Alex Hernandez, the teen remained silent while an attorney advocated on his behalf, appearing serious and solemn in a dark suit, white shirt and green tie. His attorney, April Pramer from the Greenwich-based Law Offices of Philip Russell LLC, told Hernandez that the teen was “hoping to go to college in the fall” and that his “plans for the fall have been disrupted and disturbed” because her client has been “prejudiced so severely” in the public mind due to media coverage. She was objecting to an application filed with the Connecticut Judicial Branch by News 12 to videotape the teen’s arraignment.

Alex Hernandez

‘It Does Not Come Close’: Fines, Probation for New Canaan Woman Who Caused Near-Fatal Car Crash

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Handcuffed and speaking in halting sentences to two men forced to sit Monday morning in state Superior Court in Norwalk because of injuries they’d sustained in a car crash she caused nearly two years ago, a New Canaan woman in court custody apologized and said she never meant to hurt anyone. During her sentencing on a misdemeanor reckless driving charge that followed the October 2014 crash on Silvermine Road and a subsequent, separate drunk driving charge at Saxe Middle School pickup, the woman, 52, told Michael Bivona and Darryl Shaw that she was “so sorry for everything.”

“I pray for you every day,” the woman, wearing a purple blouse, back pants and sneakers, told the men. She added: “I do not want you to think that you are not on my mind.”

Under a plea deal worked out between her attorney, John Robert Gulash of Bridgeport-based Gulash & Associates, and the office of assistant state’s attorney Nadia Prinz, she pleaded no contest and was fined the maximum $300 for the reckless driving charge and an additional $500 plus court costs and sentenced to six months, suspended after 48 hours. The formal ‘nolo contendere’ plea means that she accepts a conviction though she does not admit guilt.

Judge Alex Hernandez said she also would have to make any “verifiable restitution” following the accident she caused, undergo substance abuse counseling, attend four MADD victim impact panels over the two-year period and may need to use an interlock safety device with her car, pending a DMV decision. Gulash called the sentencing “the result of very extensive discussions” with prosecutors, and said it represents a fair mix of “punishment, treatment and safeguards” for the woman in the future.