Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 15, 1994 TAG: 9405150019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
So Alberi, the chief deputy prosecutor for Virginia Beach, has filed a motion asking a judge to stop David Baugh from implying in court that Alberi is "brain-dead." Alberi also sent Baugh a letter informing him that the two men are no longer on speaking terms and that they should communicate in writing.
Alberi wrote that he will not discuss anything with Baugh "in person or by telephone. Conversations with your office will be limited to setting court dates. These conversations will, of course, be recorded."
A few days after Alberi filed his motion, Baugh filed one of his own, asking the state "to be compelled to resist misleading the court with intentional and erroneous authority."
In the motion, he asks the judge to make prosecutors stop misleading the court "by arguing law in bad faith."
The attorneys' verbal sparring match continued last week in court.
"I'm sorry to cause the commonwealth's attorney to get huffy," Baugh said near the end of a five-hour motions hearing in a rape case Tuesday. "I assume it's the lateness of the hour and he requires a nap. I'm just trying to defend my client."
Earlier in the same hearing, Alberi took a swipe at Baugh, who was arguing a legal point.
"Mr. Baugh thinks my IQ is about 25," Alberi said. "I don't need endless lectures" about the legal issue.
Alberi said that he had passed up many opportunities to respond to Baugh's courtroom remarks, and he said that any perception that there had been a continuing exchange of barbs was misleading.
"I said one sentence to him at the end of about 25 hours of hearings, having had my fill of him," Alberi said.
Baugh is not new to conflict in the courtroom.
In December 1991, he got into a fistfight with Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Joe Morrissey. Baugh had incensed Morrissey by repeatedly referring to him before the jury as the "kid from law school."
Baugh pushed Morrissey toward a window and called him a name. Morrissey responded by throwing a series of punches at Baugh's head, breaking Baugh's glasses and causing a 1-inch cut on his forehead.
A judge declared a mistrial in the case and lodged contempt of court complaints against both attorneys, saying "the conduct is the worst I've ever seen."
It is unclear when or if a judge will hear arguments on the motions filed by Baugh and Alberi. But the two will meet in the courtroom several times in the upcoming months. Baugh represents a man charged in a number of rapes in Virginia Beach. Alberi is helping to prosecute the cases.
"What I'm perturbed about is that we have four very serious cases against a guy that we can prove is a serial rapist and we won't get a fair trial," Alberi said. He said Baugh's courtroom behavior could result in the state not receiving a fair trial.
by CNB