Taunton Stabbing Suspect Found Guilty

 

If you have been charged with a violent crime in RI or MA, contact Criminal Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni at at (401) 351-5100 or use the contact form HERE for more information.

Taunton woman found guilty in stab case
By CHARLES WINOKOOR

A Taunton woman accused of stabbing and severely injuring another woman in 2010 — in retaliation for talking to police about a 2009 shooting in Fairfax Gardens housing project — was found guilty on three of five charges this week.

A jury found Damaris Gonzalez, 26, formerly of 733 Somerset Ave., guilty of intimidation of a witness, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a knife) and assault and battery.

She was found not guilty of armed assault to murder and a second count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

The week-long trial was held in Fall River Superior Court.

Gonzalez was accused of repeatedly stabbing then 21-year-old Jani Desousa in April 2010, after Desousa had returned to Taunton to celebrate having landed a new job.

The victim, who had been placed in a witness protection program and was living out of state, was an eyewitness to a 2009 non-fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Brockton man visiting Fairfax Gardens.

Police said Desousa not only was stabbed but was kicked and punched by Gonzalez’ half sister, Jennifer Alicea, during the DeWert Avenue assault.

Alicea pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to two to three years in state prison.

One witness told cops that a large group had gathered that night to watch what they thought would be a fight between three women.

Read more HERE

RI Prisoner Charged in Inmate Attack

If you have been charged with a felony crime in RI and need legal assistance, contact Criminal Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni at (401) 351-5100 or visit the website for more information.

Convicted murderer charged with attack
Police say he stabbed fellow inmate in neck

By Bill Tomison

CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) - A convicted Westerly murderer, serving life plus thirty-six years, is facing new charges of attacking one of his fellow inmates while behind bars.

Victor Semidey was convicted in 2003 of shooting in the head and killing his girlfriend Tammy Chan as her teenage son watched. Now, he's charged with assault with intent to commit murder.

Rhode Island State Police say he got into a dispute with another inmate at the Adult Correctional Institutions high security building. He then plotted to attack the inmate by taking two pens, taping them together and stabbing the other inmate in the neck on Saturday.

The inmate got superficial wounds and was treated at Rhode Island Hospital. Officials aren't naming him.

Judge Pamela Woodcock-Pfeiffer ordered Semidey to have no contact with his victim.

At his murder trial, Semidey was a controversial figure, giving offensive signs to news cameras with both hands: "You got that?" he barked at photographers. He also freely admitted to killing Chan, with no signs of remorse in court.

Before that conviction, he'd had previous domestic violence convictions, as well as a conviction for slamming a man's head on a sidewalk.

Loaded Gun Discharges in Atlanta Airport

If you have been charged with a criminal offense involving a weapon, a felony in RI or MA, or a Federal criminal offense, contact Criminal Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni, at (401) 351-5100 or use the contact form HERE for more information.

Gun in carry-on accidentally discharged at Atlanta checkpoint
By Ben Mutzabaugh

A gun being transported in a passenger's carry-on bag was accidentally fired while it was being inspected by an officer at a screening checkpoint Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The Sunday morning incident began when TSA screeners detected a loaded .22-caliber Magnum revolver in a carry-on bag being taken through the security check-point by passenger Richard Popkin, Reuters reports.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes "while an Atlanta police officer responding to the scene tried to clear the five 'snake' shot bullets – small game pellet ammunition – in the handgun, a shot went off, according to an Atlanta Police incident report obtained from Hartsfield officials."

"I was grazed by a pellet fragment on the left side of my face," the officer says in a report quoted by CNN. "However, there were no visible injuries," the officer adds in the report.

The weapon was said to be pointed down toward a screening table when it discharged, according to CNN .

As for Popkin, CNN quotes the police report as saying he initially intended to put the gun in his checked luggage but decided to remove it because he was afraid it would cause that bag to exceed his airline's weight limit.

Fox 5 TV of Atlanta reports that the 43-year-old Popkin "was transported to the Clayton County Jail" and now "faces a charge of carrying a concealed weapon."

The TSA says the Atlanta incident is just one of more than 1,100 so far this year in which firearms have been discovered at airport security checkpoints across the nation.

And the Atlanta incident comes exactly a week after another man was arrested after he forgot to remove his firearm from his carry-on luggage in Memphis.

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