Karolys defense blasts Ulster DA’s office
Manslaughter suspect lawyers say evidence not shared, call exhumation of victim’s body a ‘fishing expedition’
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Defense attorneys for Joseph E. Karolys, the Saugerties man accused of manslaughter for the October 2022 death of David “Mickey” Myer, argued in Ulster County Court on Thursday that the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office is continuing to violate the state’s discovery laws by failing to turn over evidence in the manslaughter case.
Among the violations, the defense claimed, was a decision by the prosecution to have the victim’s body exhumed in order to collect additional DNA evidence.
Karolys, 39, of Saugerties, is charged with first-degree manslaughter, assault, tampering with physical evidence and attempted bribing of a witness in connection with the Oct. 22, 2022 death of Myer. Karolys has been held in jail since his Feb. 22, 2023 arrest.
Calling the exhumation a “fishing expedition,” Defense Attorney Carol Morgan asked Ulster County Judge Bryan Rounds to preclude any evidence, including DNA evidence retrieved from Myer’s body. If the evidence is not precluded, she said, the defense may request to have Myer’s body exhumed again so it can conduct its own tests.
Defense attorneys also said the prosecution has still not turned over telephone records.
The accusations came during a three-hour court proceeding that had originally been scheduled for pretrial hearings and followed a prosecution plea bargain proposal that would see Karolys plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence.
Concerns over delays
The hearings had to be delayed because it was revealed in court
that Chief Assistant District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji failed to submit to the court documents known as “stipulations in lieu of motions” Morgan had sent to him in August.
Assistant District Attorney Kristen Druse initially claimed that the defense never sent those documents. However, after Morgan provided an email showing that they were sent to Nneji on Aug. 2, she conceded the defense had indeed sent them. She said, though, that because the submission was well beyond the filing deadline, the issue was moot.
“So, Miss Morgan is 100% correct and the assertions by the people are 100% wrong, factually,” Rounds said.
Based on the alleged discovery violations, Rounds said he was “seriously considering the defense request (to release Karolys from jail) as a matter of fundamental fairness.”
However, he said he would delay his decision to give both sides time to put their arguments in writing.
“I am extremely concerned with the delays in this case for a defendant who has been in custody for nine months,” said Rounds. “I am very concerned with the proceedings, where we’re at, and why we’re here,” he said.
Myer’s battered and lifeless body was found on the side of state Route 32 on the morning of Oct. 22, 2022. Authorities say that hours earlier, Myers left a Greene County bar in a pickup truck with Karolys, Michael Cummins and Karolys’ 17-yearold son Joseph A. Karolys, who had been called to the bar to give the trio a ride.
The father and son were each arrested in February 2023 and charged with Myer’s death. According to the Ulster County Family Court clerk, charges against Joseph A. Karolys have been “disposed of” and the case has been sealed.
The defense has argued that Cummins’ was actually the person who fatally assaulted Myer, pointing to statements Cummins allegedly made to police and others in which he stated that he beat Myer while the elder Karolys allegedly slept in the back seat of the truck driven by the younger Karolys. In a statement to police, Cummins allegedly said he was awakened by Myer assaulting the younger Karolys and that he beat Myer and “booted him” out of the vehicle onto the side of the road
Nneji, who is running for Ulster County district attorney, wasn’t in Ulster County Court on Thursday. Pressed by a clearly exasperated Rounds about Nneji’s whereabouts, Druse repeatedly indicated that Nneji was not in the office.
“I don’t believe he’s in the office today,” she told Rounds, responded Druse.
In an email Thursday morning to the Freeman on a matter unrelated to Karolys’ case, Nneji’s campaign manager Evan HollandShepler said Nneji would be in court and not available until late Thursday. In an email in response to a Freeman inquiry following Thursday’s court proceeding, Holland-Shepler said he was “actually mistaken,” when he said Nneji would be in court. “Manny was in the DA’s office until late in the afternoon,” Hollad-Shepler stated, adding he has “no more insight into the inner workings of the office than any other resident of the county. “
In a third email, HollandShepler stated that Nneji “was indeed out of the office this afternoon.
“The suppression hearing that was originally scheduled for today was canceled. He informed the court weeks ago that he would be taking some time off,” Holland-Shelper wrote.