Lawyer says Glastonbury police saw confidential files
Aug. 5—GLASTONBURY — Lawyer Wesley S. Spears says local police searched his apartment, which also serves as his law office, on July 29, and looked through files containing confidential communications with his clients.
Spears said in an email to a number of judges and prosecutors Thursday, "I will be seeking dismissal of all of my client's cases because their files were illegally searched on or about July 29, 2022."
SEARCH
LOCATION: Lawyer Wesley S. Spears' apartment in the One Glastonbury Place complex at 32 House St. in Glastonbury, which Spears said doubles as his law office.
ISSUE: Spears says police officers looked at case files including confidential lawyer-client communications. But Hartford State's Attorney Sharmese Walcott says her review of police reports and bodycam footage gives no indication of that.
But Hartford State's Attorney Sharmese Walcott said, based on her review of police reports and video from officers' body-worn cameras, "I have nothing to indicate that any of his clients' files were compromised."
Walcott added in a subsequent email that her office "will oppose any motion to dismiss on the basis of an illegal search."
Spears currently represents defendants in 140 Connecticut criminal cases, representing a number of defendants in more than one case, online court records show.
Lt. Kevin Szydlo, the local Police Department spokesman, declined to comment on Spears' claim about the files.
"Unfortunately, this is an ongoing investigation and I am unable to provide details or further comment at this time," Szydlo wrote in an email.
Spears said he hadn't seen the police affidavit on which Judge Sheila M. Prats based her decision to authorize the search of his apartment in the One Glastonbury Place complex at 32 House St. He said the affidavit has been sealed for 14 days.
But he added, "I know I didn't do nothing. Whatever's alleged is false."
Based on the limited information he gleaned from search-warrant documents police gave him and questions officers asked during the search, Spears believes the investigation may involve an allegation that a gun was fired in his apartment.
He said police seized his legally registered 9mm pistol, a number of rounds of ammunition, and at least one magazine that feeds rounds into the gun, although he said police left behind another magazine and a box of bullets.
Spears emphasized that he wasn't arrested, and online Connecticut court records on Thursday showed no case pending against him.
Likewise, a nationwide search of federal court records showed no criminal case against him in any of those courts.
At one point during the July 29 search, Spears said, police had him in his kitchen. He said he repeatedly asked to be moved because there were knives in the kitchen.
"If I made a furtive move, they were there to kill me," he said.
Spears said he was unable to see what police did during the search in his office and his bedroom.
"I asked them to let me observe what they are doing, and they refused," he said.
Spears, who is Black, said he is buying a new car and plans to use a driver because he is "afraid of the Glastonbury Police Department profiling me."
He said he intends to move out of Glastonbury as soon as possible.
"I can't sleep," he said. "I can't eat. I lost 18 pounds."
He also said he is seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Spears said the search involved nine officers.
"I'm a 68-year-old lawyer," he said.
Spears was charged in 1996 with attempted first-degree larceny by extortion and promoting prostitution in connection with his efforts to become the agent for basketball star Marcus Camby, a Hartford native.
The charges were dismissed after Spears completed Connecticut's accelerated rehabilitation program, which involved community service and making charitable donations during two years of probation.
For updates on Glastonbury, and recent crime and courts coverage in North-Central Connecticut, follow Alex Wood on Twitter: @AlexWoodJI1, Facebook: Alex Wood, and Instagram: @AlexWoodJI.
