Alex Spiro, Mayor Eric Adams‘ criminal defense attorney, argued in a new Wednesday legal filing that Hizzoner’s corruption case ought to 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 performing Manhattan US Lawyer Danielle Sassoon to US Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi — which accused Adams’ counsel and President Trump’s DOJ of participating in a quid professional quo to have his costs dropped — constituted “prosecutorial misconduct.” Spiro and the DOJ have each fiercely denied any quid professional quo, and the mayor himself denied it beneath 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 additionally revealed that federal prosecutors had 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 prompted “irreparable” injury to his presumption of innocence within the courtroom.
Lawyer Alex Spiro speaks throughout a information convention concerning his shopper New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, at regulation places of work in New York Metropolis, U.S. September 30, 2024.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
For these causes, Spiro implored federal District Choose Dale Ho to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” that means the DOJ is waving its proper to reindict Adams on the identical costs. That stands in distinction to the Justice Division’s movement to dismiss the case “without prejudice”, which provides federal prosecutors the flexibility 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 fees with out prejudice has created the notion that Trump is utilizing the specter of resurrecting them to get Adams to cooperate along with his deportation push.
Spiro’s submitting comes after Choose Ho final week refused to dismiss the case instantly.
As a substitute, Ho appointed an unbiased legal professional — Paul Clement of the regulation agency Clement & Murphy PLLC — to argue for maintaining the case alive. The decide stated Clement’s appointment was vital as a result of somebody must argue on behalf of the fees, 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 stated. “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.”
Nevertheless, the DOJ explicitly stated it isn’t dropping Adams’ costs primarily based on the details 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 govt 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 stated. “It is impossible to understate the prejudice inflicted by the Feb. 12 letter.”
