Community Corner
Cheshire Man Gets Four Years in Prison for Witness Tampering
Gerald O'Donnell is a former Cheshire police officer and former inspector in the New Haven state's attorney's office.
A former Cheshire police officer turned private investigator convicted of bribing a witness involved in a murder trial was has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Gerald O’Donnell, 69, faced a maximum 20 years in prison. His attorney, Norman Pattis, has said that he plans to appeal the verdicts.
O'Donnell, a former Cheshire police officer and former inspector in the New Haven state’s attorney’s office, offered a witness in a New Haven murder trial money and other items to recant her testimony, which she did, leading to the release of the two men convicted of killing a New Haven grocery shop owner in 1993.
Eventually one of the men returned to prison two years ago when the state Supreme Court overturned that ruling and after a new trial. The other man has since died.
O'Donnell is free pending the appeal.
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