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Judge won't dismiss case against officer in accidental shooting
East Providence police officer Joseph Warzycha III will have to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of another officer during a training exercise.
10/04/2002
BY GERALD M. CARBONE
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The East Providence police officer who accidentally shot and killed his superior during a training exercise will have to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter, after a Superior Court judge yesterday denied his request to dismiss the charge against him.
Joseph Warzycha III was not in court yesterday to hear his lawyer, John Lynch Jr., make his final argument on why Warzycha should not have to stand trial for the accidental shooting death of police Maj. Alister C. McGregor.
McGregor, a father of five and commander of the department's Special Response Team, was killed on Dec. 27 during a hostage-training exercise at a school bus lot. Warzycha retrieved his rifle from the police station and returned to the training site, according to a state police investigation. He did not check the rifle to see whether it was loaded before he fired at McGregor, who was playing the part of a hostage taker, the police said.
Lynch said that prosecutors incompletely described the elements of involuntary manslaughter when addressing the grand jury that indicted Warzycha, and that it was the City of East Providence as an incorporated municipality that should have been indicted, not Warzycha as an individual.
Judge Daniel A. Procaccini said that he cannot by law dismiss an indictment, absent "flagrant and overbearing" misconduct by a prosecutor. Procaccini said that there was no such misconduct in this case, so he would let the case proceed to trial.
Prosecutor Stephen Dambruch said in court that the state was only seeking to "give the defendant his right to a trial before a jury of his peers."
Outside the courtroom, Lynch said that he was not surprised that Procaccini rejected his motion to dismiss. "That's not going to be a shock to [Warzycha]," Lynch said. "We thought that if we could get this thrown out today, he might have been able to move on with his life. He's been devastated since the moment it happened."
Procaccini granted Lynch's request to subpoena training manuals from local police departments that have special response or SWAT teams. The judge denied Lynch's request to subpoena police departments for records of every accidental firing of a gun in the past five years, but said he would allow a narrower subpoena for every accidental firing within five years that resulted in death or serious injury.
Subpoenas must be returned in two weeks; no date has yet been set for the trial to begin.
East Providence police officer Joseph Warzycha III will have to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of another officer during a training exercise.
10/04/2002
BY GERALD M. CARBONE
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The East Providence police officer who accidentally shot and killed his superior during a training exercise will have to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter, after a Superior Court judge yesterday denied his request to dismiss the charge against him.
Joseph Warzycha III was not in court yesterday to hear his lawyer, John Lynch Jr., make his final argument on why Warzycha should not have to stand trial for the accidental shooting death of police Maj. Alister C. McGregor.
McGregor, a father of five and commander of the department's Special Response Team, was killed on Dec. 27 during a hostage-training exercise at a school bus lot. Warzycha retrieved his rifle from the police station and returned to the training site, according to a state police investigation. He did not check the rifle to see whether it was loaded before he fired at McGregor, who was playing the part of a hostage taker, the police said.
Lynch said that prosecutors incompletely described the elements of involuntary manslaughter when addressing the grand jury that indicted Warzycha, and that it was the City of East Providence as an incorporated municipality that should have been indicted, not Warzycha as an individual.
Judge Daniel A. Procaccini said that he cannot by law dismiss an indictment, absent "flagrant and overbearing" misconduct by a prosecutor. Procaccini said that there was no such misconduct in this case, so he would let the case proceed to trial.
Prosecutor Stephen Dambruch said in court that the state was only seeking to "give the defendant his right to a trial before a jury of his peers."
Outside the courtroom, Lynch said that he was not surprised that Procaccini rejected his motion to dismiss. "That's not going to be a shock to [Warzycha]," Lynch said. "We thought that if we could get this thrown out today, he might have been able to move on with his life. He's been devastated since the moment it happened."
Procaccini granted Lynch's request to subpoena training manuals from local police departments that have special response or SWAT teams. The judge denied Lynch's request to subpoena police departments for records of every accidental firing of a gun in the past five years, but said he would allow a narrower subpoena for every accidental firing within five years that resulted in death or serious injury.
Subpoenas must be returned in two weeks; no date has yet been set for the trial to begin.
