Schiff’s resignation left the village without prosecutorial representation, an issue that has affected at least one, but potentially more, New Lebanon criminal court proceedings.
In one such instance, court documents show New Lebanon failed to arrange for an acting prosecutor to appear at a hearing on Monday, April 22.
The defendant in a criminal case had filed a motion to suppress certain evidence in their case. The hearing proceeded as scheduled on Monday and the motion to suppress was ultimately approved by the judge, according to court documents. The criminal trial in that case is scheduled for May 6.
According to McNamee, who was hired as special counsel in February to lead an internal investigation into the village and its employees, Monday’s missed court hearing was due to a scheduling issue.
“My office was not aware of any hearings pertaining to New Lebanon on April 22, 2024,” McNamee said in an email on Tuesday. “(This was) purely a scheduling issue caught in the transition necessitated by Mr. Schiff’s abrupt resignation.”
McNamee did not specify the exact duration of time the village was without a prosecutor but said that role is now filled by attorney Nate Rose. Rose is an associate attorney for McNamee’s law office, according to the McNamee Law Group website.
“On April 2 … I received a one-week notification from former Prosecutor Thomas Schiff that his last day as prosecutor for New Lebanon would be April 9,” McNamee wrote. “Since that time, I had been engaged with the court to fill the prosecutor position.”
New Lebanon background
In February, Mayor David Nickerson and other newly elected village council members triggered an investigation into the village’s administrative, financial and legal departments, to be led by McNamee, with involvement by the state auditor. A few initial findings of the probe related to the village manager have been released.
Since mid-March, New Lebanon has fired its village manager, police chief, service superintendent, chief financial officer and the contracted law director, plus three other employees. Fired employees have called the moves malicious and a personal vendetta, with some filing appeals and at least one filing a lawsuit. Some in village council’s minority have called the moves illegal.
Nickerson has defended the actions, saying he will “do what needs to be done as a mayor to take care of my community.”
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