The sentencing of a former San Jose police officer who is accused of having illegal sexual contact with two teen boys took an unexpected detour Monday afternoon.
Unsatisfied with the lack of victim impact statements – which the Department of Probation failed to obtain following unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with the two teen boys – Judge Kenneth Shapero said he wants to hear from the victims prior to determining the fate of defendant Patrick D’Arrigo, 44. The harshest punishment D’Arrigo faces is three years, eight months in state prison.
Shapero moved D’Arrigo’s sentencing to June 20 inside Dept. 107 of the South County Morgan Hill Courthouse, located at 301 Diana Ave. in Morgan Hill.
“No statement was obtained,” Shapero observed Monday. “I think it’s important that further efforts be made to get statements from the victims.”
Shapero’s swift decision to bump D’Arrigo’s sentencing more than a month down the road came as a surprise to Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott, who is prosecuting the sex scandal case that erupted more than eight months ago.
“We thought we were going to sentence him today,” said Scott, walking briskly out of the courtroom. “But it’s a reasonable request for the judge to make.”
D’Arrigo, who lives in a southwest Gilroy neighborhood, and his attorney Brian Madden exited the courthouse shortly after Scott. The two spoke briefly in the parking lot before D’Arrigo climbed into a dark GMC Yukon SUV and drove away.
A victim impact statement, Scott explained, allows the judge to consider a crime’s impact on the victim before determining the sentencing of a defendant.
When asked how much weight the statement carries on a sentence, or if it can sway a judge’s final decision, Scott replied “this is such an unusual case that there’s no telling.”
D’Arrigo, former patrol officer for the San Jose Police Department and former campus officer at a San Jose high school, pleaded “no contest” March 15 to two counts of unlawful sexual contact with minors which allegedly occurred between December 2008 to March 2009. Count one is a felony violation of lewd or lascivious acts on a child age 14 or 15. It requires that D’Arrigo fulfill a lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Count three is a felony violation for oral copulation of a minor; an alleged victim who was referred to as “Marc Doe” in court.
A plea of “no contest” means the judge can sentence up to the maximum prison time, which is three years and eight months of state prison, according to Scott.
