State attorney Mike McAuliffe: DUI death suspect’s Haiti permission wasn’t a good idea
Tags: Beruch Zegeye, D.U.I., homicide, Paul Krommendyk, St. Marys Medical Center, Yonas Zegeye
| Tuesday 26 January 2010 5:37 pm
Roberts, in a trial last year (Damon Higgins/The Palm Beach Post)
Longtime prosecutor Ellen Roberts, the Palm Beach County state attorney’s traffic homicide specialist, said allowing teenage DUI death suspect Beruch Zegeye to travel to Haiti wouldn’t have been much of a risk.
Roberts said she doesn’t believe Zegeye, 19, would have fled if he went to Port-au-Prince to help with the earthquake rescue efforts.
“If he was going to flee, he’d have done it a long time ago,” Roberts said. “He certainly has the resources.”
Besides, she said, she thought Zegeye could be “of help” in Haiti with his neurosurgeon dad, St. Marys Medical Center’s Yonas Zegeye.
“The earthquake there certainly was a part of my thinking,” she said.
Said Sarah Horak, the niece of the man killed in Beruch Zegeye’s accident: “Sure, Haiti needs help. But (Zegeye) murdered someone. And he’s living life like nothing happened.”
Zegeye is facing more than 20 years in a state prison for his alleged role in the September 2008 crash that killed a pizza delivery man and injured another motorist. Zegeye, then a student at the swanky Benjamin School, was returning from a day a partying, partly on a yacht owned by golfer Jack Nicklaus. Zegeye (photo to the right) may have been high on pills and booze at the time of the 80 mph crash.
Under house-arrest at first and freed on a $200,000-bond, Zegeye was eventually allowed to travel to New York City to attend Pace University. Hearings on his case have been postponed time and time again, and a plea conference is scheduled for April — a year and a half after 45-year-old pizzaman Paul Krommendyk was killed.
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Then, last week, Zegeye asked Judge Karen Miller to travel to Haiti. Defense attorneys often try to show to a jury and/or a judge that a defendant could be a productive member of society.
Both Miller and Roberts signed off on the order allowing Zegeye to travel, even though Haiti’s down-and-out government would have been incapable to track down Zegeye if he were to decide not to return to the United States.
Miller eventually changed her mind and rescind the permissions. Miller gave no explanation, and didn’t return my calls.
State Attorney Mike McAuliffe, Roberts’ boss, said he disagreed with the decision to allow Zegeye to leave in the first place.
“Ellen is one of our most senior prosecutors and I trust her,” he said. “But this is a defendant in a felony case and it involved overseas travel. In the end, though, he never left.”
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Just what we need another rich kid getting away with murder, while the hardworking guy’s life that was lost is forgotten.
letting this suspect go was one of the most irresponsible acts that could be approved. This is a firing offense for poor judgement!
At first I was against him going to Haiti but then I figured that if he / his family was required to post a VERY high bail bond it would make it worthwhile for bounty hunters to go after him if he should skip.
The experience would have to be good for him.
Are you kidding me???
I have an idea….Why not let the woman the conspired with an undercover cop to kill her husband,,,,and everyone else in Palm Beach County on house arrest go..
That sounds about as ridiculous as letting him go!!!
Ohhhhh or aren’t they as reach and treated different??
I know….Lets let all our prisoners go help Haiti. It would ease the current budget problems and if they don’t return…who cares. 2 birds–1 stone.
If this is the best we have at the prosecutors office no wonder we have such a crime problem. We need Jack McCoy
Yeah I like Charlie C’s idea, just what Castro did to us with the Mariel boatlift. Let all the criminals go!
Continued POOR JUDGEMENT and SOFT HANDLING of ’special citizens’ by the State Attorney’s office.
Remember that in the next election.
Convicted sex offender and billionaire Epstein was able to leave the stockade everyday and just come back to sleep.
And now, this rich doctor’s son, is still running around after he killed a pizza delivery guy stopped at traffic light.
If an ordinary citizen is charged…expect the book thrown at you.
And didn’t that just happen to a Boca father who the State Attorney harrassed for three years?
Remember..next election. We need strong State Attorneys, not a prissy pretty boy.
YOU DON’T GET IT!!!!! This is all about Benjamin school connections. Roberts has ties to Benjamin school. If Zegeye is found not guilty then there is less culpability for the Nicklaus family. Roberts the “prosecutor” protects Zegeye which protects the Nicklauses to a degree from a civil suit. Protecting Nicklaus protects Benjamin the school. Roberts as prosecutor is the wolf guarding the hen house. This lady needs to step aside and recuse herself. McCaulliflower is remiss in not appointing a different prosecutor. This kid has no place going to college, no place going to Haiti, blah, blah, blah. What was he going to be doing in Haiti??? Somebody please tell me he would not be driving ambulances or U.N. aid trucks.
Lets see my dad is a surgeon so that somehow makes me qualified to go do exactly what in Haiti? This kid has probably never had any discomfort or dirt on his hands in his life, so again exactly what was he going to do over there?
I bet the judge and prosecuter sniffed out that they were not going to get this by on the sly and that is when they cancelled the trip.
Number 9 is exactly correct about the Benjamin fix. Just hope you never have a crime committed against you by a cop or someone rich in this county because the authorities aint gonna do shite about it.
He should be lock up,but he’s rich.
It’s amazing what MONEY can do for you and what you can get away with here. This COUNTY is full corrupt lawman, officals, attnoreys, etc.. Had this kid been from a middle class family with no financial means, he would still be n jail. Simply because his father can “buy” him out of trouble his DESPICABLE!!! How convenient is it that his court dates keep getting jumped. I wonder how many court officals his dad is paying off? I know people busted for carrying prescribtion drugs serving 3YRS in jail!!!! No if ands or buts about it and it was their first offense, yet this spoiled underserving kid who KILLED someone is free to do as he wishes?? How dumb and INJUST is our legal system?? He does not deserve to be free and the Haitian people do not deserve to have him there. He is a spoiled, self centered, leach of a person who is probably just like his parents. A real parent would encourage their child to accept their punishment as harsh as it maybe for them. I can only hope that someone realizes what a mess the STATE ATTORNEY’S OFFICE is and goes in there to clean out the crap!!!!
how in the hell does he get such priviledges’. what the pizza delivery guy’s job was just so unimportant, it just did’nt matter? that this guys death was undeserving. i really don’t understand the law it works for some and not for others. then you wonder why some people do what they do. where is the all men are created equal?
Ellen Roberts is the prosecutor that just finished spending a week in trial convicting Edwin Perez of DUI Manslaughter in the death of two Lynn University students. As a taxpayer, I trust her judgment over the judgment of readers of Jose Lambiet’s gossip column.
Yes, let him go. Maybe he won’t want to come back!
Oh yeah, BTW, I loooove Ellen Roberts. She friggin’ ROCKS!!!!!!!!
Going to Haiti will show the court he’s a “good” kid trying to help others, not a spoiled rich kid driving an expensive car, partying on a yacht, attending a rich kid’s schools and trying to show a future jury he went to help the people of Haiti.
It’s a gimmick. The doctor’s son slammed into a car stopped at red light and killed the occupant.
Suffer the consequences, hang your head in sorrow, ask for forgiveness and take what’s coming. A man is DEAD.
LETS CALL IT LIKE IT IS, IF THE SCRIPT WERE FLIPPED AND THE PIZZA GUY WAS IN JAIL BECAUSE HE KILLED THE SURGEON’S KID, HE WOULD NOT BE GOING ANYWHERE, HE WOULD STILL BE SITTING IN JAIL AND NOT GOING TO SCHOOL ETC. THIS STINKS OF CLASS WARFARE AND ONCE AGAIN THE S/A OFFICE IS SHOWING US BY EXAMPLE THAT THE LAW IS APPLIED VERY DIFFERENTLY IN THIS COUNTY DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH YOU ARE WORTH $$, HOW MUCH INFLUENCE YOU HAVE $$ ETC.
To all you conspiracy theorists….be very careful and don’t forget to wear your foil helmets….they can read your thoughts! Get a clue as to how the system works. Missing Link, you are so far away from reality, but your ideas are quite entertaining. Yes the defendant’s family has money which gives them the ability to afford expensive attorneys which can slow the process down…..that is all. A Benjamin connection? Really? Get a little more creative.
Perhaps rather than allowing this young man to go to college in New York, or to Haiti “to help”, he should be forced to move to Iowa and care for/ help the victim’s elderly parents as Mr. Krommendyk was planning to do before his life was stolen from him by someone who already started denying the accident was his fault at the scene..Mr. Krommendyk’s parents’ loss and pain is ever present… (Yes, young Zegeye actually told the cop that night that the two cars already stopped at the light that he plowed into had “pulled in front of him” at the last minute…see the original police report…What arrogance… )
Let the process work and have Zegeye be properly punished as determined by a JUDGE once a trial is complete. When has someone ever been sentenced prior to being convicted?? No one thinks Zegeye is innocent, but he does deserve a trial. Believe it or not, this is not the only Traffic Homicide case Ms. Roberts is working on and it is not any more important than any of the other cases because of the Benjamin School. It’s simply one case in a very, very large stack….one that unfortunately involves a very young and stupid kid.
It would be great if Zegeye was actually allowed to come to (a speedy) trial… The victim’s family has been waiting a long time… You see for us, this in not “simply” just one case in a very large stack… Being young and stupid does not excuse one of responsibility for one’s actions… Nor should having the ability/ resources to hire a high powered expensive lawyer result in a defendant being allowed to delay /avoid the consequences of his actions for nearly two years… (I suspect that Paul would have enjoyed going to his college reunions, but he will never have the chance, and through no fault of his own..Ironically, Paul didn’t even drink alcohol or party with drugs…He just worked hard, and loved his family… )
Hey Informed, how many of Roberts cases are allowed out of state for college or allowed out of the country with her support? Apparently some are more important than others you Tool.
Easy Ed, If you do not know the answers to those questions then you are not entitled to an opinion. Understand the system then comment. Roberts does not write the rules, she simply plays by them so her cases don’t have appeals. Get a clue!
Actually Mr. Informed, since you seem to know it all, and are so quick to defend a “kid” who shows little to no remorse for his actions(and who was old enough to chose to drive his parent supplied extremely fast tank in an extremely impaired state despite the so called efforts of his “rich kid” so-called friends that merely had to call the cops to stop him from killing an innocent man, but that chose not to to so as to cover their own partying little butts), why don’t you tell us exactly how many other defendants accused of vehicular homicide this prosecutor has allowed to leave the state before trial to attend college? I would love to see such statistics… I do know that Paul’s parents have traveled to your state from Iowa several times since his death in hopes of seeing Zegeye brought to justice, only to face further delays… oh, sorry, they aren’t young and stupid, so I guess according to you they should be the ones to have to suffer the consequences of this impaired irresponsible driver’s actions… (well actually a trial will not end their suffering and loss as that will never end but at least will give them closure…)
Before you pick a fight, at least know what you are fighting. You are swinging blindly hoping you’ll hit something thinking it will make a difference. The last person I am defending is Zegeye, but like it or not, he gets his day in court. When that day is, believe it or not, is not determined by the State Attorney’s office. It’s kind of a first come first served type of system, and if you have some resources, the process can be slowed…that is just the way it works. Lastly, a JUDGE sets the terms of bail, not the State Attorney’s office. If you really want to see justice prevail, figure out how the system works, support it, and know who your friends are.
To the informed,
You keep repeating the same…know how the
system works… That’s the problem …
they do not by the rules of the system..
And if they would follow the Rules then the
outcome of many cases would be JUSTICE !!!!
and you know for yourself its a ZOO …
jUDGES ,LAWYERS ,STATE ATTORNEYS ARE JUST A
BUNCH OF ANIMALS WORKING IN THAT ZOO..
Dear Mr. Informed,
As a family member of Paul, firstly, I’d
like to point out that saying it is
“unfortunte” that this case “invovles a young
and stupid kid” is pretty clearly an excuse
for, if not a defense of Zegyeye’s criminal
actions, besides being downright insulting to
me, as if Zegeye’s young life is somehow more important
than Paul’s, since Paul’s life is gone forever….(Your your choice of the word “unfortunatly” is also pretty telling of your position, inferring perhaps that “the accident” was due to “destiny”… It was no “accident”…It was a choice (or rather a series of bad choices and actions) made by Zegeye… Unfortunate? yea, unfortunate that this idiot partied all day and then killed someone… Unfortunate is such a compassionate word…thanks, I feel a lot better…
(Furthermore, I also get the
feeling that perhaps you are also involved in
Zegeye’s actual legal defense, but even so you do
have a right to speak here…even if you are
condescending and unfeeling for the
victims…and pretty rude to boot… ) I am not
an idiot, I do understand the legal process,
and personally I don’t give a rat’s butt about
the Benjamin school or its possible influence
(other than that his friends from there all
claimed they were worried about him that night,
tried to stop him, but yet didn’t call the
cops on him for his own protection/ he could have just as easily been the victim of his own horrific driving), etc… I
still offer you the challenge of backing your
own words… Offer some proof/ statistics to
demonstrate that it is normal operating
procedure for the prosecutor in such cases to
allow the defendant to live out of state to
attend college until trial….Are there no colleges in Florida?
Oh yes, and to clarify, I do understand that it is the judge who sets bail (often on the recommendations of/ with the approval of the prosecutor), but I’d still like to see your stats that show this is a common practice in the jurisdiction that is trying Zegeye…
(and when I suggested that Zegeye come to Iowa rather than Haiti to preform voluntary community service to better the world, I was not suggesting it as a punishment prior to sentencing, but rather making the point that perhaps it would be more fitting for him to see the pain and suffering that death at his hands caused if he wants to be a volunteer/prove his worth to the world, rather than seeing the pain and suffering caused by a natural disaster…)
Last post for me here…. I am NOT in any way involved in this case or any other. I am simply a life-long Palm Beach County resident that occasionally stumbles upon Jose’s column to see what kind of nonsense he is barking. He should stick to covering celebrity stories and stop getting people fired up with all his innuendo. I am very sad for your loss. I too have lost and know how it feels.
Traffic Homicide is nothing new to Palm Beach County, and certainly nothing new to this prosecutor. We have one of the worst TH rates in the country and it has been her job to prosecute those offenses since as long as I can remember….and her batting average is quite high. I suggest you do some actual research rather than rely on Jose (or his bloggers) for your “information”. Lastly (and again), it is up to JUDGES (not state attorneys) to define terms of bail.
Saying a prosecutor has a high batting average is not providing the statistic I asked for, nor do I need to do the research myself as you are the one who has implied that the treatment of this defendant is “typical” and/or average…
And I don’t need to rely on Jose or his bloggers, as I have first hand knowledge of how this case has been delayed/ how Zegeye has been allowed to avoid responsibility for his actions to date, going back to the night it happened/ he tried to deny responsibility on the scene… And again, I did clarify that I know it is the judge’s responsibility to set bail/conditions, but that I also know the prosecutor is allowed to give input during the process… For one who claims to have experienced a similar loss, you certainly are at a loss for as how to really show compassion other than for the “stupid kid”… Once again, do you just have to be the last one to post/ call me stupid??? Sad….
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/jurors-find-boca-raton-man-guilty-of-dui-177087.html?cxtype=ynews_rss
This “accident” took place in 2006 and he was just tried and convicted. Is that a good enough example of another case being delayed by defense attorneys?? I would imagine these type of cases have a ton of moving parts and probably an expert witness for each and every part. In the end Zegeye will get what he deserves (in the eye of the court), but for now, right or wrong, by law, he is permitted to go about his business (with some restrictions). That is not something only Zegeye gets because his father is wealthy.
Dear The Informed:
I do not wear a tin hat as you allege. In fact, I am apparently more informed about the Benjamin connection than you claim to be. It is common knowledge prosecutor Roberts has a son who attends Benjamin, so my suspicion is not off base. You sound like an attorney quick to shoot down others and shove your points down everybody else’s throats like a bully in an attempt to frame the situation. Those of us who are really informed see what’s going on here. Roberts should’ve recused herself. If you’re so informed, tell us why she didn’t.
Signed,
Non-Tin-Hat-Wearer
For all you know it all’s….her son no longer attends “Benjamin”, actually hasn’t in 15 years. So to imply that State Attorney Roberts has “ties” seems a little, hmmm what’s the word? Misinformed? Mrs. Roberts has been a driving force in the traffic homicide division, and deals with death on a daily basis. To blame her for the length of time, the bail, and what ever other various items listed above, is outrageous. It is because of people like Mrs. Roberts why the punishments for the crime are more severe. And as far as the “kid” going to Haiti, there is nothing I believe more fitting….death and sorrow. Exactly what the victims family will deal with the rest of their lives. It will not be a vision he can remove, Haiti is not going to be the Four Seasons. Really???? Everyone nowadays is quick to jump on a band wagon to exploit your faults, never your accomplishments. Mrs. Roberts, well done!!!
What a coward! He needs to face his punishment and the family of the deceased. Ask for forgiveness and hope he can one day make something of his pathetic life.
Wondering why so quiet….Conspiracy foil hat wearing guy??? Maybe you’ve been at one of your underground meetings discussing how UPS is really a division of the FBI (I hope you had fun). Any more “facts” about the Zegeye case you wish to divulge? I once drove by the Benjamin school…..maybe I am in on the “fix”. My buddy had a dog named Bennie, he must be in on it too.
To The Informed:
Apparently, I hit a nerve with you. That’s usually what happens when the truth is tough to accept. Perhaps I hit too close to home for you?
Signed–
More Informed Than You
yep. you got me. any more facts on Ms. Roberts’ family you wish to share?
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crash-that-killed-three-month-old-may-point-204809.html
Don’t you wish that you had Ms. Roberts job? I’ll bet there is a Benjamin connection somewhere here too.
I don’t see any comments on the lack of civil suit against this very wealthy family. Father, a neurosurgeon at St. Mary of WPB, is registered owner of vehicle involved. Comments from plaintiff indicate that their attorney is unable to locate family’s assets. Apparently family’s attorney [Howard Roth] has transferred and retransferred the assets in numerous ways to escape detection. I don’t understand this. Surely income tax returns are available by subpoena to assist in traceing the assets. Perhaps aan attorney reading my comment can explain.
Re my above comment: I forgot to add that Page 2 article of Jan.24, mentioned that a plea conference is scheduled for this month. Perhaps we’ll see something on this soon.
This msg is for “really informed”.I have just reviewed all posts on this matter, and sincerely hope to be of some help. Zegeye approach to appearing to prepare for trial is a sham. Attempts to plea bargain were totally unsuccessful. The kid is facing incarceration for at least 15 years, and possibly longer because of reckless driving. Appearing to prepare for trial merely provides further delay and possibly wearing Roberts down to get a better deal.
There isno doubt in my mind that seeking permission to go to Haiti was to enable fleeing to Ethiopia to escape juridiction. That is surly why judge revoked prior permission. Note that the good doctor did not go to Haiti thereafter. Why? Answer is obvious.
I noticed comment from other victim, Richard Lombardi, that good doctor’s assets cannot be located. I feel strongly that Paul’s parents and Richard Lombardi seek out a session w/ Searcy Denny law firm in WPB. They now represent Mrs Wilson in Goodman DUI matter. Surely the good doctor’ssalary is subject to garnishment, and the assets are probably in foreign jurisdiction - e
Ethiopiua?- to protect from civil litigation. A good way for a professional to avoid malpractice - cheaper than insurance.
Please have Paul’s parents and Richard look into this matter. Don’t hesitate to give me a yell via this site ifyou have any questions.