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May 23, 2008

Former Johnston police officer sentenced to 60 days

JOHNSTON -- A former Johnston police officer was sentenced to 60 days in prison earlier today by a Superior Court judge.

Marc Zaccagnini was found in violation of his five-year deferred sentence for vandalism and trespassing after he was convicted of committing simple assault in a separate case.

That conviction last month led Judge Gilbert Indeglia to impose prison time, emphasizing that Providence police arrested Zaccagnini only a short time after he had worked out his deferred sentence with the court last October.

Indeglia also said that Zaccagnini is “not the man on the street.” “He’s a law enforcement officer who’s taken an oath to enforce the law and abide by the law,” Indeglia said.

Zaccagnini was not led away in handcuffs because Indeglia opted to let him wait for the state’s Supreme Court to rule on an appeal in the case.

In April, Zaccagnini’s lawyer, Gary G. Pelletier, asked Indeglia to vacate Zaccagnini’s original plea on the trespassing and vandalism charges. The plea dates back to last fall.

Pelletier’s argument was that a Supreme Court ruling had later clarified the understanding of a deferred sentence and eliminated Zaccagnini’s chances for expunging his record.

Indeglia denied the request at the time. Today, he said Zaccagnini’s sentence would be imposed after the higher court decides the appellate matter.

Indeglia also sentenced Zaccagnini to an additional 10-month suspended sentence on the trespassing charge. After serving that sentence, he must serve another one-year suspended sentence on the vandalism charge.

Prosecutor Maureen Keough had asked Indeglia to send Zaccagnini to prison for six months, but he found 60 days to be “more appropriate.”

“He’s going to learn from that or he’s not going to learn at all,” Indeglia said.

“It will give him a taste of incarceration,” the judge said.

-- Journal staff writer Mark Reynolds

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:35 PM | Permalink

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