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DONE DEAL: Michael Boxley leaves the Albany court yesterday after agreeing to register as a sex offender. Skip Dickstein/Albany Times Union ALBANY - A former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday entered a surprise plea to settle a rape charge against him and will have to register as a sex offender - but will avoid any prison time. J. Michael Boxley, who was the Assembly's top lawyer, pleaded guilty in Albany County Court to a misdemeanor charge of sexual misconduct in a case involving a night of drinking between him and a young legislative staffer that ended...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ A top aide to state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver pleaded innocent Thursday to charges he raped a 22-year-old employee of a Democratic assemblywoman. Michael Boxley, on unpaid leave as Silver's $130,395-a-year counsel since shortly after his arrest in June, entered his pleas through his lawyer during a five-minute appearance in an Albany courthouse before state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Keegan. No trial date was set. Boxley remains free on $25,000 bail. Boxley, 43, was indicted Aug. 1 by an Albany County grand jury on two counts each of first- and third-degree rape stemming from incidents during...

<p>July 28, 2003 -- A SSEMBLY Speaker Sheldon Silver's longtime chief counsel may be indicted on a rape charge later this week, The Post has learned.</p> <p>The Albany County grand jury will take up the high-profile case of Michael Boxley - who was led away from his Assembly office in handcuffs last month after being charged with raping a 22-year-old Assembly staffer - within days, possibly as soon as Friday, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.</p>

<p>The FBI has begun examining the personal computer of former Assembly chief counsel and accused rapist J. Michael Boxley, The Post has learned.</p> <p>Albany police turned the computer over to the FBI for expert analysis a few days ago and are looking for evidence involving sex crimes and possibly "other offenses," said an official with firsthand knowledge of the politically explosive case.</p>

<p>June 20, 2003 -- ALBANY - The top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was put on unpaid leave earlier this week after being charged with rape, has accumulated 421/2 weeks of paid leave, officials revealed yesterday.</p> <p>J. Michael Boxley, 43, Silver's $130,395-a-year chief counsel and a one-time senior aide to Senate Democrats and former Gov. Mario Cuomo, is owed by the state a total of 1,485 hours in vacation, personal, holiday and sick time, according to the Assembly's personnel office.</p>

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A prominent legislative lawyer was placed on leave Monday after being charged with raping a 22-year-old co-worker at her apartment after a night of drinking. Michael Boxley, who earned $130,395 as chief counsel to Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, had been absent from work since he was arrested last Wednesday and taken out of his Capitol office in handcuffs. Boxley, 43, was charged with one count each of first- and third-degree rape. Police said Boxley offered the woman a ride home after the two met colleagues for drinks at a bar and sexually assaulted her at her...

<p>June 16, 2003 -- THE woman who accused Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's top aide of rape has become the target of a vicious smear campaign by Silver's fellow Democrats, The Post has learned.</p> <p>And the campaign - spearheaded by staffers and even a few legislators - has some in the party hopping mad.</p>

<p>The silence up at the state capital over the arrest on rape charges of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's chief counsel is troubling, though predictable.</p> <p>J. Michael Boxley, arguably Silver's most powerful staffer, is charged with raping a 22-year-old Assembly aide Tuesday morning after he agreed to drive her home from a night out in Albany bars.</p>

<p>HANDCUFFED IN COURT: J. Michael Boxley, 43, goes before a judge yesterday after being arrested and taken from his Capitol office on two counts of rape.</p> <p>ALBANY - Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's chief counsel was arrested in his state office on rape charges yesterday - possibly involving the use of a date-rape drug - and led away in handcuffs as stunned officials looked on.</p>

Albany-- J. Michael Boxley accused of assaulting 22-year-old woman after encounter at downtown bar The Assembly Democrats' chief counsel, J. Michael Boxley, who was accused of sexual assault by a Republican lawmaker's staffer in 2001, was arrested in his Capitol office Wednesday and charged with raping a 22-year-old aide to a Democratic legislator earlier this week.At about 2:30 p.m., Boxley, 43, of 1980 Western Ave., Guilderland, was led in handcuffs through a hallway behind the Assembly chamber by a group of state and city police officers as legislators and lobbyists looked on. In an unusual move, both Albany Public Safety...