The first hearing lasted a total of 20 minutes or so. The prosecutor and Abbate’s defense (not criminal defense attorney) tried to hash out the details of the trial. The prosecutor is trying to get this going as soon as possible and will need some time to get the transcript of the criminal trial. The defense is, of course, trying to make this into a long and drawn out process. We did learn that there is a possibility that Abbate is going to try to appeal his conviction.
The next hearing will be August 19th at 10am. During that hearing they will set up the final dates for the trial.
