Despicable Judge Castorina Demands Arrest of Ailing 9/11 Responder

Retired NYPD 9/11 Responder Guy Simonetti [l], Staten Island Administrative Justice Desmond A. Green [c], and NYS Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castorina [r].

Retired NYPD Detective and 9/11 Responder Guy Simonetti, 64, faces the threat of debtor’s prison after New York State Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castorina Jr. issued a bench warrant demanding payment for his ex-wife’s attorneys.

Judge Rob Castorina presides over Guy Simonetti’s divorce. He wants Simonetti to pay for the ex-wife’s attorneys – who happen to be friends with the judge.

Prioritizing lawyers over ailing 9/11 heroes, Justice Castorina has turned what should have been a civil matter into a criminal one. His decision to demand payment from Simonetti, a 9/11 responder who sacrificed his health and safety during the perilous terrorist attacks, is a clear case of prioritizing lawyers over the people who come to court seeking justice.

Retired NYPD Detective and 9-11 Responder Guy Simonetti suffers from Factor V Leiden and Factor V deficiency, conditions that heighten his risk of developing blood clots. His doctors say travel may be fatal in his condition.

Simonetti lives in Florida and is in a fragile state of health. Despite ordering him to relinquish almost all his assets to his ex-wife and her lawyers, Castorina allowed the freezing of Simonetti’s remaining retirement account, leaving him penniless.

Will it be debtors prison for Guy Simonetti?

Castorina has invoked the archaic 17th century laws of imprisonment to coerce payment, jeopardizing Simonetti’s health and potentially his life by demanding his appearance in court in New York, when remote hearings through Skype are often employed in Castorina’s court.

Realizing the lawyers on the case could still earn more by extending the case, Castorina invoked the principles enshrined in the Act for Coercion of Payment of Debts of 1642,  which created debtors prison in America.

Unjust denial of appeal

Simonetti attempted to appeal Castorina’s decision, but the judge refused to sign off on the application. Castorina seems more interested in protecting the interests of the attorneys involved than considering the wellbeing and rights of an ailing 9/11 responder.

A cry for dignity and understanding

Recognizing the urgency of his situation, Simonetti sought protection from Staten Island’s top judge, NYS Justice Desmond Green, expressing his hardships and hopes to be treated with dignity.

Supporters of Castorina have attempted to downplay the significance of Simonetti’s case, arguing that his status as an impecunious and ailing 9/11 responder should not exempt him from the harsh consequences of prison for those who are ordered to pay but do not.

The weighty contrast of character

In a twist of fate right out of a Dickens novel, cold, cruel Castorina, known for his considerable girth and enormously self-centered nature, finds himself presiding over the fate of an infinitely superior man in Simonetti.

NY Police Detective Guy Simonetti spent most of his career trying to save lives and now his own life is in danger.

While Simonetti bravely rushed towards the heart of the tragedy to aid the afflicted, Castorina shamelessly sought solace in self-indulgence, safely removed from ground zero.

Now, Castorina has the ability and audacity to reduce Simonetti to poverty and plans to incarcerate him, solely for his inability to pay a debt manufactured by Castorina himself to fulfill the desires of his lawyer associates.

The cry for justice

Although the concept of debtor’s prison has been supposedly abolished in America, the reality is that family court judges have the power to imprison individuals for failure to meet court-ordered payments. This is no different from the debtor’s prisons of old.

Tubby Terror of the Law

During 9/11, despite being a man of considerable girth and insulated well with overly generous deposits of subcutaneous adipose tissue which, as it does for other kindred mammalians such as the walrus, serves as an energy reserve and provides buoyancy while floating, whether in the ocean, or, as in Castorina’s case, in hot tubs, the corpulent Castorina was spotted on the day accelerating away from ground zero in an alacritous manner that lean and hungry lawyers one fifth his weight could only hope to emulate when chasing the last dollar of the net worth of their clients before settling the case.

Artist’s rendition of Ronald Castorina running away from ground zero

While Detective Guy Simonetti rushed to the heart of the tragedy to comfort the afflicted, Castorina went in the opposite direction and sought his own comforts. Now he loves to afflict those who appear before him in court.

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By a singular quirk of fate, the man who spent his life fattening his nest while others, like Simonetti, bravely risks their necks, their health even their lives, the brazen Castorina finds himself judge, jury and prosecutor of the far superior man, Simonetti

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