USA
N.Y. Governor committed no crimes in response to assault accusation against aide, says judge
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New York Gov. David A. Paterson committed no crimes but showed a lack of judgment when he contacted a woman who had accused one of the governor's top aides of assaulting her, retired Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye concluded in a report released Wednesday.
A more than four-month investigation by Kaye found that "errors in judgment" were made by the New York City Police Department, the head of the governor's State Police detail "and indeed by the Governor himself" in response to the reported domestic violence by his friend and aide David Johnson on Oct. 31, 2009.
However, she said that Johnson himself was the only person against whom criminal charges might be warranted.
Tasked by state Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo with examining Paterson's role in the assault case, Kaye said the Democratic governor's actions did not constitute witness tampering.
However, she criticized Paterson for failing to inquire about what actually happened that night beyond Johnson's account, and she wrote that the governor also did not try to confirm a report that a temporary order of protection was issued against Johnson.
After the confrontation in the Bronx between Johnson and his then-girlfriend Sherruna Booker on Oct. 31, Paterson called Booker and endorsed a press statement that said the incident was not violent.
"It is hard to reconcile this conduct with the governor's expressed commitment to the cause of domestic violence prevention," Kaye wrote. Her investigation found no interference by State Police, including a trooper who contacted the woman, into the criminal investigation by New York City police.
Booker filed a police report saying Johnson choked her, threw her against a mirror and tried to rip off her Halloween costume.
According to Kaye's report, Johnson reported the altercation to top Paterson aides soon after he left Booker's apartment that night, prompting a flurry of calls among aides. The calls that evening included a conversation between a member of Paterson's State Police detail, Major Charles Day, to Booker in which she alleged that the major asked her not to file criminal charges but to let the State Police handle the matter internally. Day denied making the statement.
While officers that night wrote out a complaint against Johnson for "harassment," Booker said officers told her if she wanted him arrested, her only option was to get an order of protection in Bronx Family Court.
Booker obtained a temporary order of protection on Nov. 2. During a second appearance in Bronx Family Court on Nov. 4, a judge adjourned the matter until Dec. 17 and instructed Booker how she could ensure that Johnson was served with the order. A judge on Dec. 17 adjourned the case until Feb. 8.
On Feb. 7, the governor had the first of two conversations with Booker. He contended that he did not know about her imminent court appearance and did not discuss the case with her.
The next day, Booker did not show up for court. She told investigators she had decided on Dec. 17 to let the order of protection lapse because she had not been bothered by Johnson since the October incident.
Johnson has been suspended without pay since shortly after the incident. Meanwhile, Booker has said that she wants to pursue the case.
"The evidence reviewed warrants consideration of possible charges against David Johnson relating to the Oct. 31 domestic incident," Kaye wrote.
The incident is still being investigated by Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson.
"The Independent Counsel has shared investigative materials and information with the Bronx County District Attorney to facilitate his investigation," said the report from Kaye, the state's chief judge from 1993 to 2008. "While not binding on the District Attorney, the Independent Counsel has concluded based on her review that no criminal charges should be brought against any other individual with respect to the matters discussed herein."
Cuomo signed an order March 11 naming Kaye, now of counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, as an independent counsel to investigate both the domestic violence incident and a charge referred to Cuomo's office by the state Commission on Public Integrity that the governor had improperly accepted New York Yankees tickets without promptly reimbursing the team.
Wednesday's report concerned the domestic violence case and not the baseball ticket inquiry, which continues under Kaye.
In a June interview with Cuomo's investigators, Paterson discussed his Feb. 7 phone conversation with Booker in which she said she was being harassed by reporters and asked Paterson whether he could help her. The governor said he promised to see what he could do.
Paterson said he did not discuss with Booker her scheduled court appearance or the events of Oct. 31, 2009.
Asked why he did not discuss those matters, Paterson said he was preoccupied at the time by media reports that his resignation was imminent due to the Johnson affair. The governor told investigators that as he talked with Booker, he was unaware that the Oct. 31 incident was anything more serious than an "unruly argument" or that she was due in court the next day.
Paterson told investigators that his concern in talking to Booker was to discern whether she was the source of uncomplimentary rumors about him, not the legal case between Booker and Johnson.
The governor and Booker also talked by phone on Feb. 24 just before the release of a New York Times article about the domestic violence incident and any role by the governor or others close to him to dissuade Booker from pressing charges, according to Kaye's report. Paterson said he apologized to Booker that she was being thrust in the public spotlight.
That same evening, Paterson asked Cuomo in an e-mail to investigate the Oct. 31 incident and the response to it by officials.
There was no immediate response to the report Wednesday from Paterson's office. He said when Kaye took over the investigations that he looked forward to telling his side of the story.
(Published by Law.com – July 29, 2010)