THE MONSON CASE: A CRITICAL OVERVIEW

   CONTENTS:
    ABSTRACT
    METHODS
    CASE OVERVIEW
        The Eye Witness Accounts
        The Forensic Evidence
        The McGohan Statement
        The Star Witness
        The Mystery Caller
        The Altered Police Report
        David Weinstein et al.
    RESULTS
    DISCUSSION
    REFERENCES

ADDENDUM
Letter to James Vargeson, D.A.
Komanecky's Allegation
Bertonica's Scenario
Monserrate's Ruling
Public Opinion

E-MAIL
Media
Political

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Monserrate's Ruling

In March of 1993, New York State Supreme Court Justice Patrick D. Monserrate ruled that Thomas Bianco never received a fair trial because a police report written by Auburn detectives had been altered. What was missing from the report was witness William Komanecky's tentative identification of John Grossman as the man he saw talking with Julie Monson on the night that she disappeared. The deleted reference which appears below was taken from an article that was published in the Syracuse Post-Standard on March 5, 1993:

" Later went to Prison [sic] and did pick up photo of John Grossman, and [sic] ex-con. As Sergt. [sic] Komanecky thaught [sic] this could be the man, as subject had attended CCCC. Reported all this to Asst. Chief [Carmen Bertonica] and Captain Tartaglia." (MR-1)

In his decision, Judge Monserrate made this statement about the deleted reference to John Grossman. The excerpt that follows was taken from an article that appeared in the Auburn Citizen on March 7, 1993. Please note the words "whom he recognized" in the third sentence.

"The purposeful removal of the Komanecky connection between the man whom he saw with Julie Monson and a man whom he had seen before, who lived nearby, and whom he recognized as 'John Grossman' changes not only the form of the prejudice to the Bianco defense, but elevates it to a matter of substance requiring the strongest available remedial action by this court." (MR-2)

The article goes on to say that in November of 1992,

Bianco's wife and attorney Randi Juda, told a Citizen reporter that Komanecky knew Grossman because he was an inmate at Auburn Correctional Facility, where Komanecky was at that time a sergeant. Juda also said Komanecky knew Grossman because Grossman lived in an apartment complex down the street from where Komanecky used to live. (MR-3)

In an interview with Citizen reporter Michele Locastro, William Komanecky said that

those assertions are false and he's willing to take a lie detector test to prove it. He repeated that he had no idea who Grossman was and certainly didn't know where he lived. (MR-4)

. . . . . . . . .

When and how did the defense come into possession of the "full police report" which contained William Komanecky's tentative identification of John Grossman?

In his opening remarks, Judge Monserrate made this statement:

This direct quote was taken from an article that appeared on the front page of the Auburn Citizen on March 5, 1993.

Very shortly after the media began reporting the details of Judge Monserrate's ruling, defense counsel Joseph Fahey, now a judge in Onondaga County made this comment to reporter Shawn Carey of The Syracuse Post-Standard:

" The powers that be, who were the prosecutors in this case, had decided they were going to close this case and this was the way they were going to do it. This was a proceeding that just reeked from beginning to end." (MR-6)

This direct quote was taken from an article that appeared on the front page of the Syracuse Post-Standard on March 5, 1993.

From Robert L. Schillagi, Research Specialist, IBEX Databases, Auburn, Syracuse and Rochester, New York.

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