why would his attorney request to be removed from tis case?
----- Original Message ----
From: Hinge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 4, 2007 6:56:39 PM
Subject: [AsburyPark] Asbury historian gets 45 days in jail for contempt of
court
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/4/07
BY NANCY SHIELDS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
ASBURY PARK — Werner Baumgartner, an Asbury Park historian, is serving a 45-day
sentence in the Monmouth County Jail in Freehold Township after Municipal Judge
Mark T.
Apostolou held Baumgartner in contempt of court on an earlier order to remedy
code
violations at his home.
Baumgartner, 49, had told the judge at previous court appearances that he would
take
action and make repairs to correct violations, but had not.
On Friday, the judge held a review and compliance hearing to see if terms of
previous
orders consented to by Baumgartner had been complied with, Pasquale Menna,
Asbury
Park's municipal code prosecutor, said today.
"There were three prior orders entered...(which) specified that within a
certain period of
time, the property owner was to remedy some of the code violations that affect
the
structure,'' said Menna.
"There were extensions on occasions,'' Menna said. "Ultimately, the judge held
the hearing
last Friday on why the repairs were not affectuated, '' Menna said.
Menna said the original order specified that unless the repairs were done, the
possiblity of
incarceration existed.
"The judge did not impose incarceration in the past, but this time, he
determined that he
(Baumgartner) was in contempt of the judge's order,'' Menna said.
Menna said that normally there is no bail in contempt cases, but rather that
Baumgartner
could file an appeal of his 45-day jail sentence and ask that his sentence be
stayed.
Baumgartner was represented by attorney Paul Fernicola, but Fernicola requested
that he
be taken off the case last Friday.
William Gray, the city's director of code enforcement, said today that there
had been a
longstanding problem with open violations at Baumgartner' s 402 Fifth Ave.
home, and that
in his previous appearance in court, Baurmgartner had made a deal with the
judge to get
the repairs made.
Gray said the problems were numerous including no railings on the porch and
ceilings
falling apart.
"This has been a longstanding problem with him,'' Gray said.
Baumgartner gained respect in the city for his knowledge of Asbury Park's
history, and for
a brief time in the late 1990s held the non-paid position of "city historian''
under former
Mayor Kenneth Saunders and the late City Manager Wilbert Russell.
That title ended after a new council took office in 2001 and Baumgartner
complained
about losing the designation. For many years, he has spoken during the public
portion of
City Council meetings questioning actions he believed would not preserve the
city's
historic nature or architecture.
Late last November, police went to Baumgartner' s home after getting a call
that there was
a body in the basement.
Baumgartner said afterward that he did not want to allow police in, and when
they called
him on his phone, he told them he was not at home but in the hospital.
"I lied initially, and told them I was at the hospital," he said. "I apologized
for that. I was
pretty drugged out with Percoset."
When police did get inside the home, they saw code enforcement issues that were
forwarded to Gray's department.
Baumgartner said at that time he had been at odds with the city for years over
the exterior
condition of his property and had denied code enforcement officials entry to
his property
for several years.
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