As published by CT Insider on January 26, 2022.
An attorney for Darien investment banker Scott Hapgood said a preliminary inquiry has concluded there is enough evidence to continue prosecuting his client on a manslaughter charge in the 2019 death of a Caribbean hotel worker.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Hapgood is ordered to stand trial on a manslaughter charge,” attorney Thomas Watson told Hearst Connecticut Media this week.
Watson is representing the Hapgood family in a lawsuit filed against Auberge Resorts, the parent company of the Anguilla hotel where employee Kenny Mitchel was found unconscious by authorities after a scuffle with Scott Hapgood. Mitchel was later pronounced dead at an Anguillan hospital.
The Hapgoods contend in the lawsuit filed against Auberge Resorts that the family was on vacation in April 2019 when Scott Hapgood wound up fighting for his life in his hotel room when he was attacked by Mitchel.
Two of the Hapgood children were in the hotel room when the incident unfolded, according to court documents.
After being released on bond, Hapgood refused to return to the island in November 2019 for a scheduled court appearance because he said he feared his life was in danger. Since skipping the court hearing, Hapgood has been considered a fugitive from justice by authorities in Anguilla.
However, no effort appears to have been made to extradite him back to the island. It remains unclear whether that will change now that the inquiry into the charge has been completed.
Based on the findings in the inquiry, the Anguillan Attorney General Dwight Horsford may seek an indictment and extradition, according to a statement his office released last May.
“The Crown remains determined to progress this case,” Horsford said in the statement. “It will do so — as it has since proceedings started — objectively, fairly and steadfastly with full regard for the rule of law and the principles of natural justice, including the presumption of innocence.”
Horsford did not return requests for comment this week.
Last May, Hapgood lost his appeal of the decision to continue the inquiry. The inquiry was resumed after the British Privy Council ordered the probe to continue.
Watson and a Hapgood family spokesperson declined to comment this week on what the next step could be for the criminal case.
Watson appeared Monday during a virtual hearing in Marin County Superior Court in California where the lawsuit against Auberge Resorts was filed to inform Judge James Chou that documents related to the criminal inquiry were expected to soon be released.
It’s unclear how many of the documents will be publicly released and Chou discussed placing a protective order on the evidence to prevent public disclosure if certain documents needed to remain sealed.
The Auberge Resorts lawsuit is scheduled to be back on the court docket March 23.
Mitchel’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against Hapgood. A federal judge has asked attorneys representing Hapgood and Mitchel’s family to file documents by Jan. 31, indicating whether the criminal case is moving forward. That lawsuit will likely also move forward now that the criminal inquiry is complete.
The two pending lawsuits have been stalled due to the COVID pandemic and the inquiry, which was conducted by an Anguillan magistrate.
Hapgood and his family were on vacation on the Caribbean island when Mitchel showed up at their hotel room to fix a sink that had not been reported broken, according to the lawsuits.
After allowing Mitchel inside the room, Hapgood claims in the lawsuits that the hotel worker pulled out a knife, demanded money and then “physically attacked” him in from of his two young children.
Hapgood fought the younger man who was “biting, clawing and hitting” during the attack, his attorneys said.
Hapgood was able to restrain Mitchel, but hotel employees, who were summoned by his daughters, initially didn’t call police or an ambulance for nearly 40 minutes, the Darien man’s lawsuit said. A hotel security guard eventually took over restraining Mitchel until police arrived, the lawsuit said.
Attorney Steven Seligman, representing Mitchel’s estate, claimed in their lawsuit that Hapgood kept his arm on the hotel worker’s neck, cutting off his airway for an extended period of time, which he claims caused the younger man’s death.
The lawsuit filed by Hapgood stated Mitchel’s cause of death was attributed to a cocaine overdose based on an Anguillan toxicology report.
“Despite the toxicology results showing that an overdose caused Mitchel’s death, Anguilla has continued to prosecute Scott, and he has incurred substantial costs in defending the prosecution,” Hapgood’s attorneys said.
Source: CT Insider https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/Probe-upholds-manslaughter-charge-in-Darien-s-16805256.php#photo-21954998
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