Rensselaer County DA Abelove sues local judge

TROY – A registered sex offender’s failure to report signing up for Facebook led to the unusual case of Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove suing North Greenbush Town Justice Stephanie Piel.

The lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Rensselaer County is one Abelove, Piel and her attorney won’t comment on. But it is a case that court observers and attorneys say they haven’t seen happen before at the county courthouse.

North Greenbush police learned on Dec. 1 that sex offender Richard Hansen was on Facebook and one of his victims contacted officers to alert them that he “sent her a friend request on Facebook… which scared her.” The police report further states “that she didn’t accept (Hansen’s) friend request and blocked him (on) Facebook.”

Hansen, 77, of Wynantskill is a Level 3 registered sex offender, or a sexually violent offender, who is on probation, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.  He was convicted of felony first-degree sexual abuse in 1992 and felony second-degree course of sexual conduct in 2008, according to the state records.

Police Officer John Larrabee filed a felony complaint against Hansen on Dec. 10 for failing to tell police he opened the Facebook account. Piel signed an arrest warrant for Hansen dated Dec. 12. On Dec. 13, police arrested Hansen on a charge of failure to register an internet account, he was arraigned by Piel and sent to the Rensselaer County Jail without bail due to being a two-time felon.

Abelove’s office planned to present the case to a county grand jury and had reached agreement with the county public defender’s office that Hansen’s Dec. 21 preliminary hearing wouldn’t go forward and he would be released on his own recognizance, according to court papers. As a result, the district attorney’s office and the public defender notified the court in one-sentence emails that the preliminary hearing would be waived and Hansen would be released pending the grand jury action, according to court filings.

But that didn’t happen. When an assistant district attorney didn’t appear for the hearing, Piel dismissed the single felony count.

“Please be advised the above charges have been dismissed due to the failure of the prosecution appearing and ready to proceed with the preliminary hearing as scheduled,” read note sent by Piel’s office to the county public defender’s office and copied to the district attorney.

On Jan. 9, Abelove sued Piel and Hansen to reinstate the felony charge.  The paperwork in the county clerk’s office, however, didn’t contain the complaint, which is usually filed in civil cases. This case was an Article 78 proceeding, which is a civil suit filed against governments and elected officials to overturn a decision.

But in the complete file pending before state Supreme Court Justice Patrick McGrath it became clear what was happening.

Abelove claimed Piel was stopping him from performing his job as district attorney to prosecute Hansen. Piel is an attorney practicing in Albany.

Abelove pointed out that his staff and the defense had agreed to Hansen’s release at the time, but that Piel dismissed the charge.

“This has had the effect of frustrating petitioner’s performance of his constitutional and statutory duties, his ability to proceed with a preliminary hearing at a later date and his ability to further negotiate dispositions with defense counsel at the lower court level,” Abelove argued.

Abelove was seeking a judgment that Piel exceeded her authority to dismiss the charge and that she couldn’t dismiss the felony count.  Abelove and North Greenbush Town Attorney Fred Kirwin, who represents Piel, appeared before McGrath.  A tentative agreement was reached to reinstate the charge, which is expected to be made final shortly.

Piel did not respond to an interview request about the lawsuit. Abelove declined to comment, as did Kirwin.