Alex Spiro, Mayor Eric Adams‘ criminal defense attorney, argued in a new Wednesday legal filing that Hizzoner’s corruption case must be dismissed “with prejudice” as a result of former Manhattan federal prosecutors leaking paperwork to the press that, he argues, has tarnished the mayor’s picture with any jury pool.
Within the Feb. 26 court docket papers, Spiro alleged {that a} Feb. 12 letter from former appearing Manhattan US Lawyer Danielle Sassoon to US Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi — which accused Adams’ counsel and President Trump’s DOJ of partaking in a quid professional quo to have his expenses dropped — constituted “prosecutorial misconduct.” Spiro and the DOJ have each fiercely denied any quid professional quo, and the mayor himself denied it below oath throughout a federal court docket listening to final week.
In her letter, Sassoon not solely alleged that Spiro had supplied Adams’ cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown to the DOJ in alternate for his authorized reprieve but in addition revealed that federal prosecutors have been on the verge of charging Adams with extra crimes. Sassoon resigned on Feb. 13.
The mayor’s legal professional contended Sassoon’s letter, together with one other from former Manhattan Assistant US Lawyer Hagan Scotten, have triggered “irreparable” harm to his presumption of innocence within the courtroom.
Lawyer Alex Spiro speaks throughout a information convention relating to his consumer New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, at legislation workplaces in New York Metropolis, U.S. September 30, 2024.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
For these causes, Spiro implored federal District Decide Dale Ho to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” which means the DOJ is waving its proper to reindict Adams on the identical expenses. That stands in distinction to the Justice Division’s movement to dismiss the case “without prejudice”, which provides federal prosecutors the power to resurrect the case at any time.
“The most appropriate recourse is to dismiss this case now and do so with prejudice,” Spiro wrote. “The recent government leaks provide this court with an independent and more-than-sufficient basis to dismiss this prosecution due to the irreparable prejudice to Mayor Adams’s rights.”
The DOJ’s transfer to drop the costs with out prejudice has created the notion that Trump is utilizing the specter of resurrecting them to get Adams to cooperate together with his deportation push.
Spiro’s submitting comes after Decide Ho final week refused to dismiss the case instantly.
As an alternative, Ho appointed an unbiased legal professional — Paul Clement of the legislation agency Clement & Murphy PLLC — to argue for preserving the case alive. The decide mentioned Clement’s appointment was vital as a result of somebody must argue on behalf of the costs, on condition that Trump’s DOJ and Spiro are in settlement about dropping them.
Adams, in a Wednesday morning Fox5 interview, repeated his declare that the case towards him is weak and that former President Biden’s Justice Division was “weaponized.”
“I have a great deal of confidence in my legal team,” he mentioned. “I stated from the start that I’ve done nothing wrong. The former president, President Biden, stated that his justice department was weaponized. President Trump stated it was weaponized.”
Nonetheless, the DOJ explicitly mentioned it isn’t dropping Adams’ expenses primarily based on the info of the case.
The legal professional listed the resignation of 4 of Adams’ deputy mayors, Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams calling on him to resign, and Gov. Kathy Hochul introducing laws to position guardrails on his government powers as fallout from the letter.
“The government’s decision not to heed that guidance predictably further eroded any presumption of innocence Mayor Adams had left in this ill-fated prosecution,” Spiro mentioned. “It is impossible to understate the prejudice inflicted by the Feb. 12 letter.”
