STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A man with a history of wreaking havoc at the Staten Island Courthouse delivered his opening remarks Monday in state Supreme Court, St. George, on the first day of a trial in which he’s been granted the right to act as his own attorney.
Darren Thomas, 54, stands accused of assaulting several officers over the course of two incidents in 2019, following a previous conviction for a 2017 melee at the courthouse.
“You can’t look at me any type of way, you know, when I present evidence … because I might not have gone to school like the prosecutors have,” Thomas told the jury Monday as part of his opening statements.
The defendant, who at one point during the proceedings was surrounded in the courtroom by eight officers, urged jurors to be mindful that witnesses might lie on the stand. “If a witness can’t recall certain things that happened, their recollection of things they do remember may be a little bit off,” he said.
Prosecutors say the defendant attacked a total of eight Correction officers and court officers at the Staten Island Courthouse over the course of two separate appearances on April 17, 2019, and June 10, 2019.
“All of those officers were injured for simply trying to do their job,” said Assistant District Attorney Nancy Fayed in the prosecution’s opening remarks. “He did so in order to prevent them from performing their official duties.”
Thomas potentially faces up to 56 years in prison if convicted of assaulting all eight alleged victims, and the sentences are to run consecutively.
COURTROOM MAYHEM
On April 17, Thomas admittedly stepped out of the courtrooms cells where he was being held for an appearance that day. He was demanding to speak with a judge about his pending cases. Prosecutors say that after more than 25 minutes of deliberation and “numerous requests,” one of the officers pushed him into the cell.
Thomas then punched that officer in the face and began swinging wildly as officers tried to subdue him, prosecutors say. Another officer sprayed him with mace “in order to get the defendant to stop throwing punches and stop kicking,” Fayed stated.
Prosecutors said the defendant’s actions temporarily shut down courthouse operations as officers were no longer able to transport inmates into the cells.
On June 10, 2019, Thomas refused to leave a courtroom in protest of what he deemed unfair treatment within the criminal justice system.
After wrapping his arms and legs around the chair while in a seated position, three officers had to lift the 6-feet, 190-pound defendant and carry him to the holding cells. A lieutenant strained his back and developed a hernia that resulted in a bulge in his stomach and continued pain, Fayed told the jury.
HISTORY OF OUTBURSTS
The defendant was previously convicted of three counts of felony second-degree assault for punching a court officer in the face and fighting with two other court officers in the courthouse basement on April 24, 2017.
A judge in 2019 sentenced him to seven years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision in that case.
On the morning of the sentencing, officials said the defendant had been “going wild” and refused to exit a Correction Department van at the courthouse.
He’s currently serving that sentence.
Attorney Michael Cirigliano, who was seated next to Thomas in court Monday, has been assigned as the defendant’s legal advisor.
“SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS”
The defendant — who wore a white dress shirt with dark pants; graying dreadlocks pulled back in a loose, hanging ponytail and a full white beard and mustache — argued Monday that every interaction he’s had with court officers was with the intent of addressing prosecutors “fabricating indictments” filed against him.
He said it wasn’t his “intent to hurt anyone” as the assault charges against him indicate.
“The officer attacked me first, and I thought they were all going to assault me, because I’ve been assaulted by police before,” said Thomas, in regard to the April, 2019 incident. “So, that’s what was on my mind.”
The defendant previously had stated in court, in referencing that same incident, that “I guess I had some sort of psychotic break.”
“I wigged out … My mind was blasted,” he stated at the time.
Upon Thomas’ mention of what he deemed illegal actions by prosecutors, Jeong temporarily ordered jurors out of the room.
Said lead prosecutor Adam Silberlight: “The defendant is making very serious accusations, not only about the evidence… but about both of the individuals trying this case.”
After reviewing documents that Thomas said proved his claims to be true, and allowing prosecutors to respond in open court, Jeong ordered that part of his argument un-permissible in opening statements.
Jeong told the defendant the “alleged facts” were “pure and absolute speculation.”
COURTROOM DISRUPTIONS
The jury was asked to leave the room a second time Monday as a back-and-forth between Thomas and Jeong became contentious.
“Can you stop interrupting me,” said Thomas at one point during the proceedings, to which Jeong snapped back: “You’re not making any sense.”
Initially, Jeong had denied a request for Thomas to represent himself in the trial.
The defendant previously had misstated his age to the court and had not been forthcoming about his psychiatric history, which included being treated on a number of occasions, Jeong said at the time.
But, as it turned out, a psychiatric exam determine the defendant’s mental capacity found he was fit to proceed.
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