Judge releases dad arrested in police standoff with 3-year-old son (Salem, Massachusetts)

Last week, dad OSCAR JUNTO threatened to kill his 3-year-old son during a police standoff.

This isn't exactly new stuff for Daddy. Mom is just the latest in a series of women who have sought restraining orders against him. In addition, Dad has had a "string of domestic abuse charges," but as too often happens with these guys, most of the charges were dismissed, dropped by prosecutors, or acquitted.

And even this time, the results were really no different. Judge Richard Morri declined to keep Junto in custody, saying that the wife's order of protection "would be enough to protect her." He also decided that Daddy didn't need to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet either.

Well, that's just dandy. Even the fact that two (male) police officers testified about the "chilling scene" at the standoff made no impact on this judge. Even though the officers were taunted and threatened, and Junto refused orders to get down. Even though Junto had threatened to kill the wife and the child with a knife, and was apparently suicidal. Even though Daddy thinks that the mom has called the police "one too many times."

Now given all that, I am not surprised in the slightest that the mother is backtracking like crazy and proclaiming that Junto is an "awesome, excellent father." What the hell else is she going to say?

I hope to God that this case doesn't turn into something truly horrible. If it does, I know we'll be hearing from the authorities what an inexplicable tragedy the whole thing was, and how nobody has a crystal ball, yada yada. Total bullsh--. They've had plenty of warning what Junto is about. From here on out, any blood shed reflects on the authorities too.

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x93700366/Judge-releases-man-arrested-in-standoff

June 3, 2010

Judge releases man arrested in standoff
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer

SALEM — A Salem man charged with threatening to kill his 3-year-old son and engaging police in a standoff last week was released yesterday after the suspect's wife complained that the charges, which include kidnapping, were "overblown."

Oscar Justo's wife went on to call him an "awesome, excellent father."

But a little more than a week ago, the same woman was so panicked that Justo was about to kill their little boy and then himself that she went to police, handed over the keys to her 4 Heritage Drive apartment and advised them that Justo had warned her about what would happen if he saw police cars.

She is only the latest in a series of women who have sought restraining orders against Justo over the years, prosecutor Patrick Collins said. He handed Judge Richard Mori a record and copies of restraining orders obtained by Justo's wife and three other women.

He's also faced a string of domestic abuse charges — most of which have been dismissed, dropped by prosecutors or led to an acquittal.

Collins urged Mori to keep Justo locked up as a danger to the community and to his wife and child.

"It's a highly dangerous scenario for Mrs. Justo," said Collins, describing how Justo was both suicidal and homicidal on the night of his 37th birthday last week, when he allegedly made the threats.

"It's a scary incident," Mori acknowledged, going on to praise the response of the four police officers who went to the apartment that night.

But after hearing that Justo would stay with relatives if released, Mori declined to keep him in custody, saying that a restraining order his wife had obtained would be enough to protect her.

He also rejected Collins' request for an electronic monitoring bracelet.

The ruling came after a hearing in which Justo's wife, 37, and two of the four officers who went to check on the child that night, testified.

The officer, Derek Sears and Edward Pierce, described a chilling scene in which they and two other officers tried to get into the apartment and were greeted with refusals and then a taunt: the officers "better get their sleeping bags."

When officers finally kicked in the door, Justo, holding up his hands, repeatedly refused orders to get down and yelled, "Just go ahead and shoot me."

Alice Jayne, Justo's lawyer, suggested that officers might have misheard Justo.

"Is it possible he said, 'What are you going to do, shoot me?'" the lawyer asked.

"He said, 'Go ahead and shoot me,'" Sears responded.

"Our major concern was for that 3-year-old child," Sears said.

Sgt. Robert Lubas managed to get close enough to the child's bed to grab the sleeping boy and carry him to safety.

Pierce said Justo's wife was crying hysterically at the police station. He said she told officers, "He's going to kill my son. He has a knife. He's going to kill my son."

Justo's wife acknowledged that in 2007, he had punched her ("We had both done and said some things," she told the judge), leaving a gash on her face that required stitches.

She said he'd also mentally abused her.

When, on the night of May 25, he arrived late from a birthday celebration with friends, she told the judge she was angry, and "he was obviously (angry) too." She needed him home so that she could get to her job as an overnight personal care assistant.

But she said that when she threatened to call the police, he pulled out a steak knife from a box in the kitchen. "This ends here tonight," she testified he told her.

"He feels like I've threatened to call the police one time too many," his wife said.

She acknowledged that she feared that as he held the knife, he would try to stab her if she let go of the child. But she was adamant: "I wasn't trying to use him (the child) as a human shield."

During cross examination, she said Justo did not prevent her from using the phone and didn't stand over her to monitor her conversations with her employer, who had called asking where she was.

"I don't want to say anything that's going to get Oscar in trouble," she testified.

During a separate hearing on her restraining order request, when Mori asked her if she was in imminent fear of harm from Justo, she answered, "Do I have to be?"

Justo is due back in court July 12 for a probable cause hearing.