After four suspensions and rescheduling of their case hearings and perceived partiality of the Suffolk Criminal Courthouse, the Filipino nurses charged with patient endangerment and their lawyer are confident that they will be cleared of what they called “malicious” charges filed against them by the SentosaCare LLC and its owner Bent Philipson.
BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
MIGRANT WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 2, Feb. 3-9, 2008
After four suspensions and rescheduling of their case hearings and perceived partiality of the Suffolk Criminal Courthouse, the Filipino nurses charged with patient endangerment and their lawyer are confident that they will be cleared of what they called “malicious” charges filed against them by the SentosaCare LLC and its owner Bent Philipson.
Ten of the nurses, who resigned from their positions as contract nurses with the SentosaCare LLC at the Avalon Gardens Nursing Home in Long Island, are members of the Sentosa 27, the 27 nurses who first filed charges against SentosaCare LLC for workplace abuse, withheld wages, and large-scale breach of contracts that allegedly constituted massive illegal recruitment. The number of nurses joining the campaign has been increasing, thus the group has been renamed as the Sentosa 27++.
The 10 nurses and their legal counsel Felix Vinluan, known as the Avalon 11, are facing criminal charges of patient endangerment filed by SentosaCare LLC and its owner Bent Philipson. The nurses however said they have written documentation proving they did not walk out on their patients mid-shift, but completed their shifts before submitting their resignation letters to the Sentosa-owned Avalon Gardens in Long Island.
Postponements
“I believe I embody the sentiments of the other defendants in the criminal case when I say that I want this case done and over with at the earliest time possible,” Vinluan said, expressing his disappointment over the repeated postponement of their case hearing.
Last year, Judge Robert Doyle of the Suffolk Criminal Courthouse postponed the Oct. 28 hearing for Dec.17, only to reset it again for Jan. 28, 2008. But Vinluan told Bulatlat that on Jan. 24, they were advised that the trial will not start until April 28.
Despite the delays, Vinluan said, “My co-defendants and I have nothing to fear or to hide, so we want the trial to proceed at the earliest possible time. We are confident that we will be exonerated of these charges that were maliciously filed against us by Sentosa’s Philipson and his lawyers.”
Vinluan added that the District Attorney’s office “has become complicit in these retaliatory and vindictive actions by Philipson.” He said they cannot secure a fair and objective trial from the District Attorney’s office for it allegedly “railroaded the grand jury proceedings” so that it could secure an indictment against the respondents.
Anti-immigrant
Aside from the delays, the respondents and their supporters are also not convinced that they will get a fair trial in Suffolk County in Long Island, New York because they described the area as “known for its strong anti-immigrant sentiments.”
Rico Foz, executive vice president of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), which is leading the campaign for the defense of the Sentosa 27++nurses, cited last year’s immigration raids in Latino communities, which were done in the guise of conducting building inspections, as among the most recent cases of the county’s bias against immigrants.
Foz said that Suffolk District Attorney (DA) Thomas Spota was involved in the controversial Marty Tankleff case. In the said case, the accused Marty Tankleff was found guilty, in 1990, of killing his parents and sentenced with 50 years imprisonment to life. However, in 2000, the lawyer of Tankleff tried to present new evidences in court but was disallowed by Spota. Tankleff filed an appeal and the appellate court ordered a re-trial based on the new evidence. Gov. Eliot Spitzer appointed Attorney-General Cuomo as Special Prosecutor to the case replacing Spota. Tankleff was subsequently found not guilty and released in December 2007, after spending 17 years in jail.
Foz said that Suffolk District Attorney (DA) Thomas Spota is currently under investigation by the New York State Commission of Investigation for his mishandling of the Tankleff case.
“Thus, we are also urging New York Governor Spitzer to appoint a Special Prosecutor to handle the case,” Vinluan told Bulatlat.
In a Jan. 2 letter, Foz asked the New York State Commission to include Spota’s handling of the Sentosa case in its investigation. In the said letter, Foz cited the mishandling of the District Attorney’s Office of the Marty Tankleff case, its improper practices, and “a pervasive lack of documentation, and improper documentation in Suffolk Police and District Attorney investigations.”
“Hopefully, with your office’s investigation and recommendations, we can prevent the situation whereby these nurses and their lawyer would have to be first convicted and incarcerated before they would eventually be found not to have committed any offense,” said Foz.
“Their prosecution is uncalled for, if not outright malicious,” said Foz noting that the Sentosa nurses case “is another example of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s mishandling of investigations, this time, because of the District Attorney’s political and economic ties with certain influential personalities.”
