The following article is taken from the Journal News, New York's lower hudson valley news source. This article brings you the latest information in regards to a case where Mr DiJoseph represents the Plaintiff, Douglas Greenwich.

Grand Jury Weighs 2007 Shooting

By Terence Corcoran                                                                              November 22, 2008

More than a year after a former Putnam Valley man was shot twice in his driveway by a process server, a Putnam County grand jury convened yesterday to hear testimony in the case.

Douglas Greenwich, 53, was shot in the chest and back in the driveway of his former Lincoln Road home in Putnam Valley by Dennis Illuminate of Kent on June 20, 2007, as Illuminate was serving Greenwich with divorce papers.Illuminate, a 66-year-old former Kent police officer and Town Board member, said he shot in self-defense because Greenwich, a union electrician, was attacking him with a wooden baton.But Greenwich said the shooting was unprovoked. He said he had two previous encounters with Illuminate in which the process server was aggressive and antagonistic.

After the shooting, then-Putnam County District Attorney Kevin L. Wright assigned the case to special prosecutor Stephen Lewis, a White Plains attorney and former Westchester County prosecutor, because Wright knew Illuminate.Although Adam Levy took over as Putnam County district attorney on Jan. 1, 2008, the case remained with Lewis.Yesterday, it went before a grand jury, whose proceedings are secret, 17 months after the shooting.

Initially, Greenwich was not going to testify on the advice of his attorneys, who said that Lewis had demanded he waive his right to immunity. But Greenwich did waive immunity, according to one of his lawyers, Michael Ryan of Peekskill. "Doug told his story," Ryan said after Greenwich testified before the 18-member panel. "He felt he did nothing wrong, so he had nothing to lose in telling his story. It's the same story he's told since Day One." But Ryan, who sat through the testimony, charged that Lewis treated Greenwich more like a perpetrator than a victim with an aggressive line of questioning. Ryan said Lewis never asked Greenwich about the shooting prior to yesterday.Lewis did not return calls seeking comment.

Illuminate's attorney, Victor Grossman, confirmed that his client also appeared before the grand jury yesterday, also waiving immunity. "Mr. Illuminate testified freely and fully answered all questions put to him by the special prosecutor," Grossman said. "Dennis answered all questions fully and truthfully, and we are awaiting a decision of the grand jury."

Greenwich filed a lawsuit June 20 against Illuminate and Elizabeth Hudak, the Carmel attorney who represented Greenwich's estranged wife and hired Illuminate to serve papers in that case. In the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in White Plains by Staten Island attorney Arnold E. DiJoseph III, Greenwich seeks unspecified monetary damages from Illuminate and Hudak. The suit also names as a defendant Illuminate Associates, the company Illuminate formed for his process serving, alleging that it failed to properly train him. The suit claims that Greenwich did nothing to provoke the attack; that Illuminate was "an incompetent, dangerous and reckless process server and a violent individual"; and that Hudak knew this but failed to reel him in.

In a response filed by her attorney, Steve A. Coploff of White Plains, Hudak denies the allegations. Illuminate also denied the allegations in a filing by his attorney, J. Peter Collins of Fishkill, a Kent town justice. State police initially called the shooting "a classic case of self-defense" and did not make any arrests. Illuminate claims in his response to the lawsuit that Greenwich got a baton or nightstick from his vehicle, raised it above his head in a "threatening manner and declared his intention to bash Mr. Illuminate's head in and kill Mr. Illuminate." The response said that when Greenwich returned to his vehicle a second time, Illuminate tried to pull him from the car to prevent him from getting the baton, and his gun went off as they struggled.

Collins called Illuminate's reaction "justified and in self-defense" to Greenwich's actions. But Greenwich, who now lives in Westchester County, said that after being served, he ordered Illuminate off his property. He said Illuminate backed his car out of the driveway, then returned and shot him in the chest at close range. Greenwich said that as he was crawling toward his vehicle after being shot in the chest, Illuminate said, "Here's another one for you," and fired a second shot into his back.