Bond-Reduction Hearing Set for Tanya McDowell

Darnell Crosland, the defense attorney for Tanya McDowell, was so livid during a brief, private conference in a Norwalk courtroom with Judge Bruce Hudock and a prosecutor that the judge could be overheard in the courtroom telling him to calm down.

"I was saying [to Hudock] I was pretty pissed that I'm not getting any straight answers from the state [prosecutor]," Crosland said after the hearing, referring to Suzanne Vieux, the supervising senior assistant state's attorney in Norwalk. "I'm pissed off at the extreme attitude from the state."

Shortly after that discussion, McDowell's brief hearing took place in state Superior Court in Norwalk. At that point, Crosland asked for and got an early hearing to argue for reducing McDowell's bond, which now amounts to more than $200,000. Hudock scheduled the hearing for Aug. 24.

McDowell is a sometimes-homeless woman who was arrested in Norwalk on charges that she had stolen educational services because she didn't live in the city. Police have accused McDowell of actually living in Bridgeport when she enrolled her son in Norwalk Public Schools. She has also been charged with selling drugs in Norwalk and Bridgeport.

The judge also ordered prosecutors to allow Crosland to see and hear electronic recordings that Norwalk police said they tried to make in conducting a drug-selling sting operation on McDowell in Norwalk and Bridgeport. The recording devices—a tape recorder and video camera—failed to work properly during the operation, police said.

Crosland later said that he had been unable to get Vieux to clearly respond when he asked to get ahold of the material. Instead, Crosland said, "all I'm getting [in discussions with Vieux] is 'You said this to the media,' 'You said that to the media.' [...] The state refuses to negotiate this with me."

Crosland said that the most definitive statement he could get from Vieux in his discussion with her Wednesday morning was, "I'll shoot you a holla." He continued, "I'm not going to stand here and be disrespected by the state saying, 'I'll shoot you a holla.'"

"I'm 100-percent, totally angered with the fact that there's so much emotion being articulated in every discussion that we have, and it's really hampering us from moving forward," he said.

Vieux, who has refused to make public statements about the case to reporters, told Hudock in court that she wanted to keep the original records because she may use them as evidence in the bond hearing.

But she said police should be able to get copies of the electronic records to Crosland in three to five working days. She also said Crosland could listen and watch whatever was contained in the recordings in the prosecutors' offices before the upcoming hearing.

Crosland also wants to argue a motion for change of venue. Hudock said he will consider whether or not to hear that motion before a trial is scheduled. In talking with reporters after the hearing, Crosland said he was considering asking officials in the Chief State's Attorney's office to have another prosecutor's office handle the case.

Crosland said he believes Vieux is too emotionally involved in the case, perhaps because she's read the public comments her step-father, Mayor Richard A. Moccia, has made about it. Moccia's comments have supported prosecuting McDowell on the larceny charge regarding theft of educational services.