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Voters in Rensselaer County will choose a new county judge on Election Day and the choice is a no-brainer.
There's only one candidate in the race who possesses the maturity and integrity to don the judicial robes. That's Democrat Robert Jacon, 61, a longtime East Greenbush attorney and former town justice.
His opponent is Republican Patricia DeAngelis of North Greenbush, 36, currently Rensselaer County district attorney, dogged by charges of overzealous prosecution, improper courtroom behavior, prosecutorial misconduct, lack of ethics. She can't do the job of prosecutor. For sure she's not judicial material. She doesn't even have the proper temperament to be a judge.
The new judgeship was conveniently created the end of June by the state Legislature with the backing of Sen. Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick). DeAngelis was Bruno's handpicked choice in July, 2003, to replace his son, Kenneth when he left the DA's office to become a lobbyist. In our opinion, if Bruno supports her, that's a primary reason to vote for Jacon.
In the last two years, DeAngelis has been reversed at least four times by the state Appellate Division, twice for prosecutorial misconduct and once for lack of knowledge of the law. She was admonished for prosecutorial misconduct before a Grand Jury in 1998 and has just recently received a "confidential" letter from the Committee on Professional Standards, the disciplinary agency for attorneys, for inappropriate behavior.
And she wants to be a judge?
Three times since last June, the appellate court has overturned sex crimes convictions on the grounds that DeAngelis and her office improperly attempted to shift the burden of proof, repeatedly strayed beyond the bounds of permissible conduct and denied defendants a fair trial.
Being a judge demands fairness and impartiality-traits that DeAngelis has boldly demonstrated she does not possess.
DeAngelis has demonstrated she will go to any length to get a conviction---regardless of the truth. She can not be allowed to ascend to the bench.
One of those individuals who had their conviction reversed because of DeAngelis' misconduct, Robert Gorghan, says that he can't be fairly retried because DeAngelis had access to confidential defense files including tape recordings of conversations between Gorghan and his original attorney, reportedly given to DeAngelis by Gorghan's estranged wife apparently seeking revenge on her former husband. Another matter of ethics.
And then there's the man who was found guilty of sodomy three years ago who has filed to have the conviction vacated because he says that DeAngelis and the DA's office may have withheld information that could have aided his defense. Burton Jeffrey Hunter, currently serving a 25-year-sentence in state prison, also claims that DA's office coached a witness behind the back of the defense attorney at trial while the witness was on the stand.
DeAngelis, then an ADA, handled the pre-trial proceedings in the case.
DeAngelis is being sued by former assistant district attorney Jennifer Sober, 33, of Albany. Sober has filed a $1 million lawsuit in state Supreme Court against DeAngelis, claiming she was defamed and wrongly terminated for blowing the whistle on alleged unethical and illegal practices of DeAngelis in the prosecutor's office. The turnover rate of assistants in the Rensselaer County DA's office with DeAngelis at the helm is atrocious.
Last week, DeAngelis filed her response to the Sober lawsuit, moving for dismissal, saying that it was a "collection of gossip, profanity, speculation and surmise". She naturally has denied all of the allegations made against her by Sober and says that unfair firing claims should be addressed to Rensselaer County officials, not the district attorney.
DeAngelis is being represented by attorney Daniel Stewart who asked the court to remove sections of 22 different paragraphs in the Sober claim because they contain "embarrassing tidbits of conjecture or rumor".
There's also the $10 million lawsuit for malicious prosecution brought against the county by a county landowner. The rulings of DeAngelis' prosecutorial misconduct have cost Rensselaer County taxpayers thousands of unnecessary tax dollars.
One of the most controversial cases tried by DeAngelis while a prosecutor is that of Jack Carroll of Troy. Vigorous efforts are underway for the reversal of his conviction and his release from prison. He was convicted in December of 1997 for the rape and sexual abuse of his then 13-year-old stepdaughter. On appeal, the New York State Court of Appeals dismissed the rape convictions and ordered a new trial on the sexual abuse counts. He was convicted a second time on the sexual abuse counts in January, 2001 and remains incarcerated in state prison in Malone. DeAngelis, who was assistant district attorney during the period of Carroll's two trials, prosecuted both trials and once again, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have been levied.
An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society, judicial canons say. A judge should participate in establishing, maintaining and enforcing high standards of conduct, and shall personally observe those standards so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary will be preserved.
That says it all.
There's only one candidate that meets those standards.
Vote for Robert Jacon for Rensselaer County judge. 11-07-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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