500-pound defendant has court date in parking lot

BY LUIS PEREZ | luis.perez@newsday.com

10:11 PM EDT, May 1, 2008

It was a beautiful day for drive-through justice Thursday at the Suffolk County courthouse.

Under a cloudless sky, the court stenographer sat in a padded office chair. The defendant, Bernard Musumeci, 44, sat in the passenger seat of his gray Ford F-350 truck, the window down. And the judge, wearing no jacket over his black robe, marked the 11 a.m. court appearance amid a backdrop of pine trees.

"The record should reflect that this arraignment is taking place in the parking lot of the courthouse," said state Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle, adding, "because of the severe weight problem this defendant has."

Although the arraignment was outdoors, Doyle prevented Newsday from photographing it.

In what legal observers in Suffolk say is quite possibly a first, Musumeci, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs about 500 pounds, was arraigned in the employee parking lot after his attorney told Doyle it was impossible for his client to walk into the building and ride the elevator up to Doyle's third-floor courtroom.

Musumeci, of Centereach, pleaded not guilty. He turned himself in to the Suffolk County district attorney's office last fall after a two-month investigation. Prosecutors said he was selling knockoff Gibson Les Paul guitars through Oakdale Music, his Montauk Highway shop, and on eBay. Police said they confiscated 35 guitars at Musumeci's shop and home that, on close inspection, bore tiny, internal markings indicating they were made in China. The authentic versions of the guitars would have fetched $90,000, authorities said.

Musumeci sold dozens of the instruments for as little as $1,500 to musicians who thought they were the originals worth thousands more. He was charged with defrauding Nashville-based Gibson Guitar Corp., prosecutors said.

Musumeci faces charges of second-degree trademark counterfeiting and criminal simulation, both felonies. If convicted, he faces 11/3 to 4 years in prison on each count. He was released with no bail after the 10-minute proceeding.

In asking for the special circumstances, attorney John Fath of Patchogue gave the court a letter from Musumeci's doctor explaining he suffers from osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease.

Musumeci's new attorney, Victor Velazquez of Riverhead, said that in 31 years in the courts this was his first parking-lot arraignment.

Doyle told Musumeci he would need to show further proof of his inability to enter the courtroom at his next appearance in June.

As birds chirped in the distance, Doyle added: "Obviously, we can't hold a trial in a parking lot."