Albany NY attorney fired for supressing 2001 arrest of William Scott Ritter

Daily Gazette Schenectady, NY ^ | January 18, 2003

[catfur]

By MARNIE EISENSTADT Gazette Reporter

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLONIE - The assistant district attorney who handled a 2001 misdemeanor charge against former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter has been fired for failing to tell her boss the case ever even existed. "I was shocked and angered to learn that the case had been disposed of by one of my assistant district attorneys without consulting me," said Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne. "Any arguably sensitive case should be brought to my attention."

Details of the specific charge against Ritter, who sources said was arrested by Colonie police and charged with a class B misdemeanor on June 15, 2001, were sealed.

On Friday, Clyne fired Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Preiser, who had worked in the DA's office for 15 years. She did not return calls for comment.

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[Timesink]

PING EVERY PING LIST! GET THIS INFO OUT!!!

[Kevin Curry]

Details of the specific charge against Ritter, who sources said was arrested by Colonie police and charged with a class B misdemeanor on June 15, 2001, were sealed.

There are ways of getting them unsealed. If Ritter weren't a darling of the Bush administration-hating liberal clique, the national media would be digging up the details.

[catfur]

Agree. Hmmm, any law enforcement out there? just what kind of an infraction would be designated a Class B Misdemeanor

[catfur]

Sheesh.. it's a busy news day with ours being the only coverage of the real Patriots rally and all but I hope this doesn't get lost... so btt

[cake_crumb]

Lookie here!

...LOL...but Scott doesn't recall being arrested, eh? Says they must have the wrong guy. I bookmarked this little gem for future ammo <VBEG>

[Dog Gone]

That's interesting. If you read the whole article, Scott seems to think it's a case of mistaken identity.

[woofie]

Is being a jerk a misdemeanor?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

BUMP

[Politicalmom]

I wonder how much Iraqi money ended up in HER pocket??

[demlosers]

Let me guess...little scottie was charged for showing his a$$?

[Labyrinthos]

Agree. Hmmm, any law enforcement out there? just what kind of an infraction would be designated a Class B Misdemeanor

I'm working from home so I don't have the NY Penal Code in front of me, but examples of Class B Misdemeanor could include low level drug possession (excluding reefer, which is a mere violation for possessing 28 grams or less),petty theft (i.e. shoplifting), criminal solicitation (i.e., are you a ho?), unlicensed and/or uninsured operation of a motor vehicle (i.e., license lapsed or previously revoked or suspended for some other violation). In all likelihood, he was not charged with DWI, because that is a simple misdomeanor or felony depending upon prior DWI's within the previous 10 years.

In all fairness, however, the article indicates that he was charged, not convicted. SOP for defense lawyers is to ask the court to seal the record if the charges are dismissed or dropped, particularly if prosecutorial error is an issue.

[aculeus]

Bump.

[kcvl]

The day Ritter resigned, CBS News reported that the F.B.I. was investigating him for showing classified intelligence to the Israelis.

More...

[Kevin Curry]

Or it was his lack of priors and "star" appeal that persuaded the judge to accept a plea in abeyance (maybe that's not what it's called it NY) and subsequent dismissal and sealing. That doesn't mean the offense didn't take place. More likely than not it wasn't a forceable offense against another person, because various victim protection laws would have kicked in if that had been the case and made it very difficult for the judge to hide the details.

[Kevin Curry]

CBS News reported that the F.B.I. was investigating him for showing classified intelligence to the Israelis.

Only the feds would have prosecuted such charges.

[MeekOneGOP]

Clyne said he only learned of the case against Ritter, who has become a high-profile commentator on Iraq, this week when The Daily Gazette inquired.

The case was sealed after Preiser, Ritter's attorney and a town court judge agreed to adjourn it in contemplation of dismissal, sources said.

This generally means that a case is on hold for a period of six months; if the defendant does not get in trouble during that time, the case is usually dismissed and the record is sealed. The adjournment indicates no admission of guilt or innocence.

When The Daily Gazette attempted to obtain a copy of the incident report from the 41-year-old former Marine's arrest, the Colonie town attorney's office denied that request, saying the record was exempt from disclosure. But the office did confirm that the record for Ritter, whose full name is William Scott Ritter, existed.

Ritter, though, said he knows nothing about the arrest.

"Sorry, you must have the wrong person," he said Friday when reached at his home in Delmar.

What a wise-acre ! I can't stand this creep/traitor...

[catfur]

Thanks for your reply Labyrinthos.

re your comment about arrest but no conviction.. agree. But in this area we (probably not unique in this)do have a a history of high profile public types being arrested and not convicted.

Of most recent memory was the arrest of a Schenectady city councilman arrested in a motel with a prostitute... charges dropped and local news covered him and his Dim pals hugging in slobbering support on the city hall steps. A la the visions of his impeached president in power at the time. Yuk

[kcvl]

he also revealed the link between the UN supervisors and American intelligence and accused his superior, the head of the observer delegation, Richard Butler, of installing monitoring devices meant to relay information about what was happening at the sites directly to American intelligence. Butler vehemently denied the existence of any such link.

The CIA was not alone in its contacts with the delegation of UN supervisors. According to Ritter's statements in an interview with the New Yorker, Israel took upon itself the task of analyzing aerial photos taken by an American spy satellite that was used by the UN delegation. Later on, Ritter wrote that "I started asking (the Israelis) more specific questions and they put me in touch with their analysts. Now it was no longer just a matter of analyzing photos. I was receiving access to the Israeli intelligence community." A bulletin of nuclear science reported that Israel had in effect set up a cooperation unit, referred to as "the green headquarters," headed by Yaakov Amidror, which worked across from the headquarters of the UN supervisory delegation in New York. These offices, Ritter's remarks indicate, planned several operations together, including the last operation in Romania, known as Operation Cup of Tea, which was meant to prevent the acquisition of components in Romania.

Ritter was unable to obtain hard evidence that could prove the UN delegation's claim that Iraq was continuing its illegal activities to develop long-range missiles. The reason is apparently that Israel refused to divulge some of the information in order not to harm its sources and reveal its methods of operation. At a certain point, Ritter was suspected of relaying confidential American information to Israel and CIA investigators were even on the verge of charging him with spying for Israel. Ritter relates that he felt that the head of the CIA's Middle East desk started treating him as a competitor because of his close ties with Israel.