Inmate’s call rings up witness intimidation charges

Criminal defense lawyers have a saying about the client "who talks his way into jail."

Richard Rosario was already in jail, awaiting trial on charges that he was one of five men involved in the Feb. 1 robbery and beating of a man in Kensington.

But between Feb. 12-14, Rosario may well have talked himself into an extended prison stay by making seven phone calls to his girlfriend in which prosecutors allege he asked her to arrange a visit by his brother, mother and others to convince victim Luis Rivera not to testify.

Rosario apparently missed the sign over the prison phone warning that all inmate calls were recorded, or the recorded voice speaking the same warning before his call was put through.

"You got to do what you got to do," Rosario, 22, tells his unidentified girlfriend in a 1:18 p.m. Feb. 13 call from the city's Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, played Friday at a preliminary hearing before Municipal Court Judge James M. DeLeon.

"What, you rather him show up or not show up?" Rosario's girlfriend asks.

"Yeah, I'd rather him show up," replies Rosario, adding "I'd rather him show up and say, like, I ain't got nothing to do with it . . . and that he made a false statement, that I was just there trying to help him and [expletive]. That would get me knocked off, like I would definitely come home, like they'd drop their case."

Assistant District Attorney Jill Fertel said Rivera, 28, was accosted Feb. 1 by five men who jumped out of a van in the 3300 block of F Street.

One of the men was armed, Fertel said, and Rivera was beaten and robbed. Rivera told police the only one he could identify was Rosario and Rosario was arrested.

Defense attorney Anthony Arechavala argued that the seven calls were ambiguous: neither Rosario nor his girlfriend specified which "young boy" or "young bull" they were talking about.

DeLeon, however, ordered Rosario held on witness inteimidation charges, apparently impressed by testimony by Assistant District Attorney Christopher Curci, prosecutor of the robbery case against Rosario.

After making two statements identifying Rosario as one of the robbers, Rivera underwent a change of heart, Curci testified.

At the preliminary hearing on March 1, Rivera left court before the hearing began. At the second listing, on March 28, he failed to appear and a bench warrant was issued.

Finally, on April 20, Rivera was brought to court and testified that he did not recognize Rosario. After being confronted with his two prior statements, Curci said, Rivera changed his mind and said he did.

"He was scared," Curci testified. "He did not want to testify."

Curci said Rivera testified that Rosario's girlfriend "came to his house and talked to him about Richard's situation. She was telling him that Richard was a good guy, a family man."

Fertel noted that Rivera also suddenly became a hermit, sitting in his house with all the lights off.

Afterward, Arechavala insisted Rosario was innocent and police pressured Rivera "to close the case."

Arechavala said Rosario's mother said the two men had known each other since they were eight years old: "There was no bad blood between them. We don't know why he's said this."

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