Riverhead - Former Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot was in court again on Monday, July 19 for the final and third day of a pre-trial hearing to determine the admission of evidence regarding her September 7, 2009 DWI arrest in Westhampton Beach.

Once again the hearing concerned itself with the admission of the dashboard ICOP video taken at the scene of the arrest that has almost four minutes missing. Defense attorney William Keahon also brought into question the authenticity of affidavits signed by a specific member of the Westhampton Beach Police Department (WBPD) regarding persons he had contacted the night of Kabot's arrest.

Pre-trial hearings over, in October or November it will be on to the actual Kabot trial for ADAs Joshua Shapiro and Anthony Baron.

Requested of all WBPD personnel in October 2009 by Town Justice Allen Smith, the particular affidavits in question were those of Lt. Trevor Gonce. Gonce threw the court into a frenzy on the first day of hearings two weeks ago when he revealed that he had actually signed two different affidavits, the original at the time was never submitted to the court and never brought to the attention of Judge Smith.

WBPD Chief Ray Dean assigned WBPD Detectives Edwin Hamor and Stephen Cunneen to obtain the affidavits from his personnel. In his original affidavit Gonce, who was off duty the evening of the arrest, claimed in the first affidavit that he had spoken to no one. Calling the detectives back to his home, Gonce recanted and noted in the second affidavit that he had received a phone call within minutes of the arrest from arresting Officer Steven McManus and a text message from Southampton Town PBA President Officer Patrick Auge.

Attorney Keahon has long claimed that Kabot was targeted by police because of her disagreement with Southampton Town Police over the issue of forced retirement after 20 years of service. Keahon has also claimed that on the night of the arrest McManus, upon the arrival at the scene of Sgt. Nicholas Fusco, ran up to Fusco with Kabot's drivers license in his hand and said, "We got her! We got her!"

Prior to Lt. Gonce taking the stand at that same hearing fellow arresting officer Ryan Lucas testified that he had shut the ICOP video off in order to review the tape at the time of the arrest, which he said explained the missing four minutes. Keahon suggests that the missing minutes of tape where perhaps erased while in police custody after the arrest.

At the latest hearing, despite objections from Assistant District Attorneys Joshua Shapiro and Anthony Baron, Keahon called to the stand Sgt. Fusco to try and corroborate the claim that McManus had said, "We got her! We got her!" Instead Fusco testified that McManus said, "Look who we got!" After the hearing Keahon noted that he felt there was little difference between the two expressions and was steadfast in his belief that Kabot had indeed been targeted by the police prior to her re-election campaign.

Attorney William "Billy" Keahon with former Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot and her husband Lance last week at day two of her pre-trial hearings in Riverhead.

Renewing the issue of the Gonce affidavits, Keahon called Detective Hamor and showed him the original affidavit. Apparently surprising to even Keahon, Hamor said he did not recognize the document stating, "This doesn't look familiar. I thought there was a line that had names." Once shown the second affidavit, Hamor verified it as one of the two Gonce affidavits he gave to Chief Dean. When asked by Keahon to speculate why Chief Dean had not submitted both sworn affidavits to the court, Hamor said he had no idea.

Returning to the issue of the missing ICOP minutes, Keahon attempted to call Officer McManus to the stand but was denied the request by Judge Smith. The Judge noted that he thought McManus' testimony would be more pertinent when the case went to trial.

In cross-examining the witnesses, ADAs Shapiro and Baron attempted to rebuke Keahon's claim of police entrapment by at one point asking Sgt. Fusco if McManus' statement of "Look who we got!" at the scene was unusual in the case of the arrest of a celebrity or politician. Sgt. Fusco stated that it was not unusual.

Judge Smith ended the hearing without rendering a decision regarding the evidence in question. He also called the attorneys back into a conference in his chambers for a second time, having done so earlier in the day.

Although the date is not yet confirmed, jury selection and trial will be on the court calendar in late October or early November. Whether the ICOP video tape will be part of that trial is yet to be determined.

After the hearing Attorney Keahon stated "I really wasn't disappointed that I did not have the opportunity to question Officer McManus - that is his [Judge Smith's] call. He indicated that upon the trial McManus will be a witness."

Regarding Detective Hamor's inability to recognize the Gonce affidavit Keahon said, "My concerns all along were that there were multiple affidavits that were not turned over and based on his testimony, obviously there very well may be a third affidavit that was not turned over." Keahon went on to note that if such an affidavit did exist it would be very critical at trial.