Anger management: Former mayor Caravati will get counseling
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Former mayor Blake Caravati could see a domestic assault charge dropped after nine months of counseling and good behavior.PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER
Former mayor Blake Caravati appeared in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court October 21 to face an assault and battery charge on a family member.
Greene Commonwealth's Attorney Ron Morris was brought in as special prosecutor for the brief hearing. Caravati and his wife, Paula, both clad in dark suits, stood before Judge Dwight Johnson, who agreed to a deferred disposition of nine months of counseling and a condition of good behavior because it was the first time Caravati had been charged with domestic assault. After that, the charge may be dismissed.
Morris told the judge that the defense stipulated there was enough evidence to find Caravati guilty. He said Caravati had been attending counseling since September and was addressing personal and anger-management issues.
The prosecutor recommended that Caravati continue with the counseling, including battery intervention counseling, and said he'd discussed it with Mrs. Caravati. "She doesn't want to testify," said Morris.
The action stems from September 9, when Paula Caravati called police to say that as she and her husband had an argument he'd grabbed her arm. The officer who responded to their Little High Street home observed a bruise on her arm, Morris told Judge Johnson.
Blake Caravati told the officer they'd had an argument and pushed each other, said Morris.
Caravati, who was mayor from 2000 to 2002 and served two terms on City Council, declined to comment after the hearing. "I don't think either one of them wants to say anything," said Caravati's attorney, Sheila Haughey.
Blake and Paula Caravati left the courthouse together.
9 comments
Too bad he didn't have anger management counseling before he held public offic.
Too bad he didn't have anger management counseling before he met his wife!
Just as legal analyst Dave Heilberg predicted when this charge first came to light, don't do it again and we will dismiss the charge. And this is fine as long as the same offer is extended to all first timers who did the same or less than Caravati did.
The poor look at this and shake they're collective heads. Must be nice to white and rich, living with total impunity to law. Oh I'm sorry, I don't want to talk about it.
I worked with a woman back in Florida who did the same thing to her husband. Got into a fight, he got angry, I think he grabbed her arm, and she grabbed the phone and called the cops. Next thing she knows the cops are leading her husband away in cuffs and she's totally regretting the whole thing. Chose not to press charges, same as Ms. Caravati, because he wasn't an abuser and had no history of abuse with her. So when I read this I just think about my former coworker.
You may discard my comment because I am the partner of Caravati's lawyer, but I can tell you -- this same offer is made to the poor as well as to the affluent. You don't have to get special consideration to get this disposition as a first-time offender. The only real distinguishing feature is the nature of the injury. If the person who was assaulted was significantly hurt -- and particularly if the charge is for a felonious assault -- there is not going to be this first offender treatment.
Yup, he got the same every first offender with a clean record gets. If you don't believe me go to court and watch or ask any cop. He probably got locked up in the first place because the cop knew who he was, and was afraid of the stink that would occur if he just told him to go somewhere else for the night and cool off like the do when they come to my house. Just two folks arguing like everyone does, and a cop trying to stay out of trouble.
Seems like reading the news here is more like sorting married couples dirty laundry. Between this and abshire I could use some good news for married folks. I don't believe in marraige myself but dang can't yall just love one another?
Ah, and the adoring public never gets to find out WHAT THE ARGUMENT WAS ABOUT; quelle domage.
I've known a few people who did not get that sensitive treatment and ended up branded under law by not being permitted to own firearms. Some may dismiss this as of no import maybe, but it's an important lost privilege and this law is unique in that it applies to a misdemeanor offense whereas all other "loss of civil rights" laws pertain to felonies.
But now he gets the public ritual humiliation of "anger management" counseling. So she called the cops because he grabbed her arm? It doesn't take much of a grab to leave a bruise and if I were he I would spend my 9 months planning an exit strategy from that marriage that leaves some of my assets intact and in my hands.