Lawmakers call on Abelove to resign
TROY, N.Y. » TheRensselaer County Legislature’s Democratic minority on Monday issued a statement calling for the resignation of District Attorney Joel Abelove, who was indicted Friday on perjury and official misconduct charges.
“You have jeopardized the public’s trust in your ability to serve, and we ask that you step down immediately,” reads the statement, signed by legislators Peter Grimm, Edward Manny, Mark Fleming, Cindy Doran and Gary Pavlic.
Abelove, a Republican, was in- dicted Friday on a felony perjury charge and two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct connected to the investigation of the fatal shooting of a drunken- driving suspect by a Troy police officer. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman claims Abelove withheld material evidence from a grand jury that led that group to decide not to indict city police Sgt. Randy French, who fatally shot and killed Edson Thevenin, 37, of Watervliet, at the foot of the Collar City Bridge on April 17, 2016. Furthermore, Schneiderman claimed Abelove took the “extraordinary step” of giving French immunity before the grand jury even took a vote, a move the attorney gen- eral claims was done to protect the officer from future prosecution.
Manny, the Legislature’s deputy minority leader, said the group — all of whom represent the city of Troy — wants Abelove to resign because they don’t believe it’s fair that taxpayers would have to help pay Abelove’s legal fees for any trial re- lated to the charges. Abelove’s current term ends in 2018, but he has not indicated yet whether he will run for re- election.
“We believe that the taxpayers of Rensselaer County should not foot the bill for [Abelove’s] situation that he put himself into,” said Manny in a phone interview Monday. “Remember, he is a lawyer and a district attorney; he should know better than to put himself in a situation like this.”
Manny said the county has already paid $35,000 to $40,000 towards Abelove’s legal bills, and minority members fear that is just a drop in the bucket.
“That price could go up to $250,000, and after that, it could go higher, depending on how many times he would like to appeal it,” said Manny. “The residents of Rensselaer County and the city of Troy should not be charged for the taxes to represent him.”
“If he stuck with the rules, with the way they were supposed to be, from the beginning, he wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Abelove spokesman Jon Desso said Abelove was unavailable for comment, but asked him to share “that he has no intentions of stepping down and looks forward to being vindicated after trial.”
Columbia County Court Judge Jonathan Nichols unsealed the in-
indictment Friday afternoon in Rensselaer County Court. Abelove pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on his own recognizance. He then ripped the charges and Schneiderman’s decision to prosecute him as he stood outside the courtroom with his attorneys, William Dreyer and John Bailey.
Police said Thevenin was killed at the end of a brief chase that began about 3:15 a.m. after French tried to stop a suspected drunken driver on 6th Avenue. After initially pulling over, police said, Thevenin sped off, nearly running French down before he made his way up Hoosick Street and tried to make a U-turn onto the westbound entrance to the Collar City Bridge.
Police said Thevenin hit a barricade, however, and was quickly boxed in by French and Capt. Matthew Montanino, the shift supervisor, who responded to French’s call for assistance. At that point, police said, Thevenin first backed into Montanino’s car, then pulled forward, pinning French between his cruiser and Thevenin’s vehicle. Police said French responded by firing eight shots from his service weapon into the windshield of Thevenin’s car.
In presenting the case to a grand jury, Schneiderman claims Abelove knowingly withheld material evidence, though the indictment does not detail what specifically was withheld, and knowingly failed to have French sign a waiver of immunity before testifying. The perjury charge involves testimony Abelove gave to the grand jury investigating his handling of the case, specifically his claim that his office similarly did not seek a waiver from one of the officers involved in a shootout a year earlier that left Thaddeus Faison dead and two cops wounded after a shootout in Lansingburgh.
Schneiderman filed suit against Abelove 10 days after the shooting, claiming the district attorney continually blocked attempts to determine if Thevenin’s death fell within the terms of an executive order signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2015 that gave Schneiderman was authority to take over the investigation of any officer-involved shooting in which a civilian was killed and the victim was either unarmed or there was a question whether that vic- tim could have been considered armed and dangerous. Schneiderman claimed in the suit that Abelove refused to turn over his files on the case, lied to the media in saying representatives from Schneiderman’s office had said their office would not take charge of the investigation and presented the case to a grand jury just five days after the incident without informing the Attorney General’s Office. Schneiderman claims that following the shooting, his special investigations and prosecutions unit informed Abelove it needed more information to determine whether the death fell within the attorney general’s jurisdiction. However, instead of providing that information, Schneiderman said Abelove “quickly and surreptitiously presented” the case to a grand jury.