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Lee Whitnum exonerated of stalking charges


            In Norwalk Superior Court on Thursday, the charge of Stalking 2nd degree 53a-181d against former politico L. Lee Whitnum was dropped by special prosecutor of the Major Crimes Unit; John “Jack” Whelan, Whelan citing “no conclusive evidence” but Whitnum claims the phone records provided by Sprint/Nextel exonerated her.  Whitnum had garnered the charged for allegedly ringing the bell and running at the home of federal judge Jane Emons.

            “Fortunately for me when the judge’s doorbell decided to malfunction I was out celebrating my birthday and I happened to call a friend within minutes of the alleged incident as reported.  Under normal circumstance I would have been home sleeping with no way to prove my innocence,” said Whitnum whose phone records exonerated her.

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            According to police records provided by the Woodbridge Police, they were called to the home of Federal Judge Jane Emons on June 22, 2013 to answer a call that the doorbell had been rung at 1:38 am.

            “It’s ludicrous,” said Whitnum.  “Some judge’s doorbell malfunctions and she names me to the police,” said Whitnum.  According to the police report Emons, who names Whitnum but admits she never saw her, dispatched into the backyard her husband, German Shepherds and the Woodbridge Police to allegedly find the elusive Whitnum.  No one was seen nor found.

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 “I ran for the Congress and the Senate amid death threats,” said Whitnum who was stanchly vocal against the US funding of Israel and the unchecked power of AIPAC, the Israel lobby.   “During World War II, my brave father at 16-years-old, was dropping bombs over Germany not knowing if when he returned to the UK his family would be alive!  I mean seriously, I’m just not the kind of person who rings a bell and runs.”

            A phone record investigation by Charles E. Coffey of the Statewide Prosecution Bureau, showed that Whitnum made several calls that night from Manhattan and Port Chester.  The closest calls, time wise, to the alleged incident, occurred at 1:50 and 1:51 and for both “the cell tower that handled the call was called City of Port Chester…”. Later in the report Coffey states that Whitnum’s phone “would have had to have been within the range of two to 10 miles from the Cell Site.” This fact, alone, made it impossible for Whitnum to be near the judge’s residence in Woodbridge, CT which is more than an hour away.

            The special prosecutor from the chief state’s attorney’s Major Crimes Unit had been called in specifically to prosecute Whitnum for the alleged crime.  If convicted, Whitnum faced one year in prison.  “I dodged a bullet,” said Whitnum.  “If the judge’s doorbell had malfunctioned on any other day I probably would be going to jail.”

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