A settlement filed late Monday in Albany will settle a court petition the attorney general filed last month accusing Abelove of violating an executive order when the district attorney presented evidence in the fatal police shooting to a grand jury that cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
The settlement calls on Abelove to transfer "his office's entire investigative and case file" and states he will "take no further action to investigate and/or prosecute any matter related to the incident."
If Abelove had simply waited another week or so instead of rushing the Grand Jury he could have avoided all this wasted time and effort and bad PR. Will he learn?
SURPLUS!
Rensselaer County has a $400,000 surplus for 2015. How soon before Troy City Council President Carmella Mantello requests that the 2015 surplus be given to Troy? Because Troy has fiscal problems...and...Troy needs the money...and we didn't get casino money...
Almost six months into the year and no one really seems to have a serious long-term plan.
32 comments:
You're right. No plan - nothing. At least if Rodney was mayor we'd have composting and solar farms. And don't forget no shower Thursday and Fridays.
Excellent point on the relative silence of both the Mayor and Council on the fiscal state of the city. We understand Pat may still be dithering on his alternatives, but I expected Carm to at least hold a press conference to explain her lack of press conferences.
I heard Steve Coffey on Vandenburgh this morning. He said "if Abelove gave French immunity he has Enormous Problems!" Guess what?
Ain't it great having a District Attorney who doesn't give a fuck about the law? Remember to thank Governor Cuomo for making Abelove possible!
Okay, lets look at the problems in the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office since Mr. Abelove took office only 17 months ago. Some of the following may not be perceived as problems but concerns. Let the reader be the judge. The first incident occured as soon as Mr. Abelove took office in January 2015.
Abelove refused to prosecute Rensselaer County Legislature Chairman Martin Reid after Reid had been accused of stealing several thousands of dollars in unemployment insurance. Abelove maintained he had not seen the file that was referred by the NYS Department of Labor. The Attorney General had to step in and prosecute Mr. Reid. Shortly after that, Rich Crist, another friend of DA Abelove gets his case dismissed by Abelove. Crist was arrested in Schodack after allegedly assaulting his son. Abelove has lost 8 to 10 ADA's since assuming office and cannot fill four vacant positions that currently exist.
Most recently, Abelove assigned a child sex crime case to a lawyer three months out of law school to prosecute the case. The child had the defendants seman in his mouth and the defendant was acquitted. Abelove hired Republican Operative Larry Bugbees sister as his secretary, Lou Dessos son as a spokesperson at $75,000 salary! Thats just about double what starting ADA's receive. He hired Martin Reids Neice as an ADA among other nepotistic hires.
Lets ask about the cases of Manny Ned, Tom Connolly, The fiacco case from North Greenbush (Fiacco is the Chairman of the Conservative Party that allows Rich Crist to call the shots). There are many more examples of mismanagement and alleged misconduct but in the interest of brevety I will end here. Just ask yourselves, Does this DA belong in office. Without even considering Abeloves apparent misconduct in the Thevinen case, It appears we have a DA that doesnt belong in this most important position
At 5:56, You're being kind. There is so much more. You're only scratching the surface.
Let's be fair here. There has been a huge turnover among ADAs on top of a new DA. His basic mission is to prosecute crime, and public records will show how he does. Llast years numbers should be released by DCJS in next couple of weeks A bit early to judge his overall performance. He may have over politicized the hiring and decisions, but again it is early yet. He did screw up royally in the police shooting case, but has time to show he learns from mistakes before next election. Only if he was so incredibly foolish and incompetent as to give Sgt. French immunity is he in immediate trouble - in which case he may be toast.
That is an issue I do not understand, not being a lawyer. I hope that French did nothing wrong. I have no reason to doubt French. However, if the Grand Jury is convened to decided whether to indict French, how can he be offered immunity. Does that mean that if they did indict, they couldn't prosecute?
I understand that someone who might be involved in a crime to a lesser extent than the primary target getting immunity before the GJ, but how can the "target" get immunity. I'm confused.
Oh, and I agree that people are entitled to make mistakes. No one is perfect. Doesn't it seem that Joel has made more questionable calls in his short tenure than most? Didn't one of his hand-picked people bolt after just a day or two? The one that had been the town judge?
In NY, unlike in other states and federal jurisdiction, Grand Jury witnesses receive transactional immunity automatically unless they execute a waiver. Targets of presentations are therefore always asked to execute a waiver, or they are not allowed to testify. On very rare occasion an inexperienced ADA has "forgotten" and the target cannot be charged. They are invariably fired - if done intentionally it is likely a crime (official misconduct among other charges). Doubt this happened......
Okay, all you attorneys out there chime in on this one. A few days after French testified in the Grand Jury he testified in County Court at an unrelated hearing. He was subject to cross examination. His lawyer let him testify. His lawyer was not even present in the courtroom. That is a telltale sign that French was granted full Transactional immunity. Does anyone out there disagree? No lawyer would ever allow his client to be cross examined if there was a chance he could incriminate himself. French got immunity! Abelove is TOAST!
Joel blinked meanwhile madden is shitting himself. Carm is coming loaded for bear. 2pm tomorrow.
At 9:10, doubt all you want. It happened! Abelove intentionally granted French immunity. It's over for Abelove.
What? Carm having another press conference? What a surprise.
Not likely that French got immunity. The judge at the hearing did not allow questions about the shooting so no need for French to take the 5th. Since he already gave his account in the Grand Jury, wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Looks fishy however - Abelove rushed the case through the Grand Jury to clear French so that he could testify for Abelove at a murder case the next week....
10:37 - Why would Madden be shitting himself?
Because Mantello is having a press conference. We will be told that Troy spends more than it takes in. Huge news.
Carm-zilla is a media whore - plain and simple. She actually believes she will be elected mayor after Madden. She may have drunk an extra glass of Hudson River Water when Bill Pascarella did so a while back. "And, it's so tasty, too." However, we need to address the budget issue that I'm Not So Wild about Harry created when he gave all that rent money to his best buddy Sam Judge for the Verizon building. Did Harry even get a job out of that? Time to kick Harry and give his dog a treat! Make sure to smirk, frown, chuckle and/or make fun of Harry at the market this weekend. Remember, no spittin'
Carm, where's your plan? Other than frightening people about how bad it is how about a plan that doesn't include scolding the county for not giving you money that isn't ours.
What's your big plan for maw? You wanted the deal killed and it was killed. Any ideas?
Talk, talk, talk. Can't wait for the voters to reject you a third time.
Mantello and her bitch McGrath are great at pointing out the obvious but have no real solutions.
5 years of all your puke democratic puppets. Sure lets attach Harry. How about your elected officials? I see major crying in the furure for all the firemen down at the hero hut on 6th ave. will Madden have the balls to get ride of them ambulance now? Nope. Madden is in over Lou head. Maybe all you hot headed Harry haters can go up to Frear Park and cool off under Peter Ryan sprinkler heads. Now let's see what Lynn and Lamb Chop Teta have to say to defend all they have done over the years on the council. Vote democrat this is what you get.
Immunity immunity immunity!!!!!!!!!!
The huge turnover of ADA's are all lawyers that Abelove hired! They left because he cannot manage people effectively. You're right about his basic mission. However he choose to NOT prosecute his political cronies. Last years numbers WERE released and Abelove has failed miserably. He's been in office about a year and a half and at this point we NEED to evaluate his performance. He is not in office to learn from his mistakes! Finally, he DID give transactional immunity to Sgt. French! Stop making excuses for arrogance and stupidity.
Carmella the Zill should worry more about McGrath being a better choice. Brings nothing to the table. Blathers about the obvious, never a fresh idea. Pat should name her Director of Recycling
Who was the rookie ADA that Joel allowed to try the child rape case? He should apologize to the victim and the family.
It's not in Joel's DNA to apologize for anything.
It's not likely if we had an ethical DA! We don't. Joel gave him immunity! Bank on it!
You post Bob Cox but won't post mine. Not one foul word. Just the truth. Madden is in over his head and Lou head too. Anybody can rip Harry but not a democrat. 5 years of them in power bring an independent audit that kills them but you won't post. This is the first time I've ever seen an ambulance chasing accountant. Chasing the over paid ambulance out of Troy. Public safety overtime is killing us. Fire department cut must happen. Now you can all return to killing Harry.
We need more ambulances because that's the only way to save money.
We need more firemen or the city will burn.
We need more overtime because it saves us money!
When will you learn?
All youz carmzilla haters remember she won't touch police or fire no matter what.
If she won't touch police and fire then she'll never balance the budget. But it's cute she wants to try.
Don't hate C-ZillRod, just think she's a tool, and the stimulus of democratic victories
Of course he blinked, no hair to block the sun in his eyes.
...Flywheel
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