NOT GUILTY Accusers' story 'didn't add up'

By Randall Beach Register Staff

NEW HAVEN- Police Officer Anthony Maio waited 16 months to clear his name, but it took jurors 45 minutes Tuesday to find him not guilty on all counts of fourth degree sexual assault and second-degree unlawful restraint.

Maio cried and dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief after the Superior Court jury of five women and one man declared its verdict. A courtroom full of his supporters gathered around him to offer hugs and congratulations.

Jurors clearly did not believe the testimony of two women, ages 20 and 21, who charged Maio had lured them to a second-floor bathroom of Bar, a Crown Street nightclub, and groped them. He was working there as an extra-duty officer the night of April 19, 2008.

"We just all came together as a team and made our decision," said juror Jazzmyne Tappin of Meriden in an interview outside the courthouse. "It wasn't hard. We listened to the witnesses. It just didn't add up, what they (the two accusers) were saying."

"I'm grateful the jury could see through this charade and exonerated him," said defense attorney Tim Pothin. "Anthony Maio is a good man and a good cop."

As Maio and his relieved family and friends waited for elevators to leave the courthouse, Pothin joked, "That wasn't so hard, was it, Anthony?"

"I'm beyond words," Maio answered. Pothin instructed him not to say more to a reporter.

Maio's reinstatement with the Police Department remains unresolved. He has been on paid administrative leave since his arrest.

Police Chief James Lewis said Tuesday it's too early to say how the department will proceed.

Lewis said Maio might have violated internal rules and regulations separate from criminal charges. He said the department will review the case and determine if internal charges are warranted and whether to send Maio to the Board of Police Commissioners.

Sgt. Louis Cavaliere, the police union president, responded that Maio "had his day in court, won and should get his job back - if doctors say he is able to perform the work." Cavaliere said Maio "was treated by the city as though he was guilty and he had to prove his innocence. And that's not fair."

Pothin said Police Department representatives have told him they want to dismiss Maio from the force. "In the face of an outright acquittal, they don't have a legal leg to stand on. It would be overturned at a higher level."

Maio, 41, a 13-year veteran of the force, has applied for a disability pension; his private doctor concluded he can't perform full duties of a police officer. The department ordered him back to work several weeks ago, forcing him to use accumulated sick time.

Given the not guilty verdicts, Maio can seek reimbursement from the city for his legal fees.

During closing arguments Tuesday morning, Pothin and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Gene Callistro Jr. agreed on one thing: Because there was no physical evidence such as DNA or fingerprints, the case came down to credibility of witnesses.

The 21-year-old woman said she thought Maio invited her and her friend upstairs to offer them free drinks, but instead the two women, both college students, found themselves in a private bathroom where they were groped and fondled.

"The door was locked by the defendant," Callistro charged. He said when one of the women unlocked it, "he reclosed and locked the door."

But when Maio took the witness stand, he said he went upstairs to do a security check and discovered the women in the bathroom. He said he told them they weren't allowed there. It was the women, he testified, who initiated physical contact, which he rebuffed.

Pothin told jurors Maio's version was "entirely plausible."

"He used the word 'vulnerable' and that's how he felt," Pothin said. "Two women were coming on to him, trying to kiss him, touch him."

Pothin also said Maio was "completely sober," unlike the two women. Witnesses who testified, including Bar employees and other police officers, gave varying descriptions of the females' state, but agreed they had been drinking.

"If you believe she was intoxicated," Pothin said of one of the two women, "that's reasonable doubt." He asserted, "This was an event fueled by alcohol. You have to consider whether these two women could accurately recollect exactly what happened."

But Callistro responded it wasn't plausible for a 13-year police veteran armed with a gun, a club and pepper spray to feel "vulnerable" and "violated" by the two young women.

Callistro cited testimony from a Bar employee that he had seen Maio and the women go upstairs together, then come back down about five minutes later.

"This case is about a veteran police officer taking advantage of two young women," Callistro added. "This is about sacrificing your integrity. He did that and shame on him for doing it."

But Pothin said testimony from the two women was "choreographed," inconsistent and unreliable.

After the verdict was announced for two counts each of fourth-degree sexual assault and second-degree unlawful restraint and court was adjourned, Callistro said, "I took no pleasure in prosecuting a man who I'd worked on trials with. I tried to be as fair with him and ethical and beyond reproach as I'd be with anybody accused of these charges. I wish Mr. Maio well."

Mara Lavitt/Register
Police Officer Anthony Maio, left, shakes hands with his attorney, Timothy Pothin, outside Superior Court in New Haven Tuesday, after a jury found him not guilty of sexual assault charges brought by two women who claimed Maio groped them while he worked an extra-duty shift at a Crown Street bar.