THE MURPHY REPORT

by
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department
PRESIDING JUSTICE FRANCIS T. MURPHY
January 30, 1989
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New Law
Volume 201. Numbe
Copyright by Nw Law Puhlishing Company
Tuesday, ll, l969
TEXT OF JUSTICE KORPBY
1
S REPORT
Paae t
Following i1 the text made public Juetice rranois T.
141001
o: the Appellate Division, Firat of his report to tha Depart-
mental Committee on the submitted earlier this month by
Michael Gentile, the committee's counsel and Sarah McShea , deputy chief
ccunael:
On Jan. 3, I requested the reignatiou of GeDtile, the chief counsel ,
and Sar&h MoShaa, the deputy chiet counsel, of the Departmental Disciplinary
mittee (hereinafter DPC', In hi of atatea:
11
1\s we diacUI,.d today, I will bt reeigning my as Chief Counsel to the
Ciaciplinary Committee effective March 1st, 1989. I am looking for-
ward to most of my day until then clering up tom remaining looae end
in the office and by taking some muoh needed time. I am, ot courae, ready
willing to help i qmooth transition this period.
''On a note, % want to thank Your Honor and the entire Court for a very
satiefying and fulfilling eight yeara as the Committee' Chief Counsel.
11
! wish you all the best ,ft
''I learned today t:.hat Mike aentile has in!ot"med you of hia intention to reaiqn as
Chief Coune$1 to the Dieoiplinry Committee effactiva March 1, 1989.
aerved happily as
1
s Di!!!puty for three and a half years, this utdltelil
me ae a propitious time for me to pursue new prcfionl opporeuniti tor my-
self. I art\ thenton l;'esigning my position ae Chief Counel to the Diacip-
committee effective March 1989.
"I hav greatly enjoyed my eight yeara on the Committee's atatf, not only for th@
invalu&ble trial and it has affordeQ, for oppor-
tunity to work with a committ and Cout devoted to upholding prof111ional stand-
ards and un mking attorney diacipline a in Nw York.
MI thank Your Honor and th entire court !or your support and kin0n ovr ch
years. s

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At the time of 1eparat@ neither Mr. Gentile nor Ma . McShea
my request for their to any cause unrelated to the die-
of their duties at the Ms . McShea' reeignat1on was consistent with
steps taken by her in July 1988 to find other employment. She wa thn, and tor
months thereafter, angered bY the July promotion and appointment conald
Brudie, Rsq. , to ths newly created of executive assistant to R.
Esq . , the DOC chairman, a poat created by me beoauae
1
among reas-
on , thr wa1 aubGtantial cause to conclude that Mr. Gentile had in fact abanw
doned the operation of the OOC to Ms. McShea. By the cf ap
pointment, he was given, together with antil, administrative power
th DDC . Purthlr, Mr. Brudie was expxeaely made this Court's administ rat i ve
liai1on with the Committee. vesting of joint adminiatrtive power ie an un
deirable step, unless it is required by neceeity, the neetiey ehen
ted in the DOC,
S1nee my request for the of M. and Ma. on 3, I
have oriticized in the having dicbar9ed Mr . Gentile and Ms. McShea
without good cause. 1 am not required by law to a&sign any reason for my
request for their reeignations, I now must regretfully tt aaveral of th cau1e1
underlying thole reaiinationu. These causes would have been diaclosed to thoae twc
DOC member&; Mr . Hyn and Mr. Greenberg, who , in the xarciaa of sound profla-
aional judgment, to aay nothing of ordinary fairnees, ahould have inquired of the
Court before tc the press about a mat ter of which they knew they ware not
whol l y intormad, an4 inde'd were substantially apeak1ni to the
press they ehoUld have diecloeed the length of their with Mr. Gent i le.
!t might have WhY even to this day they hav nver ked me why l had
a1ked their to resi gn.
Firat, for about diX Mr. antile filed work sheets in which he faleely
work periods when he wae net employed anywhere in the business of
DDC. This

th8 pecitic character of which l did not know, wa on occasi on
upectd by m and led t o my meetings with Mr. Jackon, tbe DDC chairman, en
April S, 1981 and June 2, 1986; ana to elphone calls, too numerous t o count,
myself , Mr. Jacksod, and Mr, (Harold) Reynolds (Clexk of the Court) . Xt
led, a& well, to conferences betwn myael! and Mr. Gentile. It led, several
ago, to a b8twaen t he Clerk of the an4 Mr, Gentile's 9ecretary
who signed Mr. Gentile's attendance records. Upon being by Mr. Reynolds
of the legal risk involved in igning Gentile's attendance chould they
be !alee
1
Mr . Gentile's aecrtary daolinad to sign them.
What the time perioda tor which Mr . Gentile was paid when na was not actu-
ally working f or the State either in the DDC off1ce Qr out of it?
Writing, by an attornay on tha DDC ;taff of perjury, by
a PPC whose t vailAbla to t he DOC, ehae Mr . Gen-
tile, for he appeared daily, or wekly figure much more probbly in the
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of 12 hours, becaue he regularly failed to appear one or two days a week, or
appeared at odd hours, atayed briefly, and thn l!t. I doubt that th@re is any
member of th public who believes that the State should pay, upon falae wcrk
sheets, an annual alary of $80,000 for work of about 12 hours weekly. Aa forMa.
McShea, there can be no doubt that ahe knew of Mr. Gentile's ot hi8
offiQe, an that Alone was suffieiene for hiB on Jan. Jd.
second, during the last six years, Mr. was disciplinary prosec-
utor of thie court which nae jurisdiction 44,000 in Manhattan and
the Dronx. During tho& years, a when the annual intake of doeked
oases remained relatively atable, the backlo; or docketed from 720
the end of 1983 to over l,JOO in December 1988, the month in which it wa decided
ehat Mr. Gentile' raignatian waa Nor may we apeak aonf14ently of the
by Gentile over the to the In a writing executed
under penalty of perjury, this court hal had confirmed Inormation given to it
prior to Mr. Gentile's resignation:
N[Mr . Oentile
1
&] major ooncern was that he houtd be criticized by the Oourt or
the Clerk of the court. Consequently, ha took sreat paine to insure that a true
picture of condition exiting in the DOC were oonoealed from the court.
"The emphasig wa& on closing complaint tiles at any coat to reduce th@ number of
backloggd oaaes . Monthl y quota were imposed on lawyere for closed oases
pre&sure wa applied to cases regardleae their merit. At one ataff meet-
that I attended several year a ago, Mr. Gentile stated that we were to use 'pro-
to cloae oa Although he waa oaretul not to
ataee it, ehe implieation was that wer to close and verything in or-
der to reduc the backlog to below 1200 cases .
"I have a auepicion that the laat few etatistics have been altered to
give the that tne number of backloggoQ cases was smaller than actu
ally was. I do know that in yeare hundreda of new complaints wert accumu-
in bakets and withheld for months before they were opened. In thi5 way, Mr.
Gentile was Gble to repreatnt to the Court at the end of each that the
cf backlogged casa been reduced, when 1n that w nQt
These facta algne justify Mr. Gentilat& and may implicate Ma. McShea aa
well.
Third, during the past two years, Chairman and %, well as Mr.
6lda, learned of Mr. Gentile's improper conduct in at lea1t three cases involving
political and A fourth & !ormer Committee membor .
In the first ca raommending diamial of two complaints. stated
to Mr. Jackson tbe complaint involved only political made during
oampaiin He thus procured the of Mr, Jaokaon necessary fer the closing
the tile. In eact, as Mr. wll knsw, the complaints sufficiently
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Qlaima o! professional misconduct in wholly commercial tn unlawfully
elcing the file, Mr. Gentile wrote a servile letter to chat tigure, in-
viting him to Gentile; a letter to the complainant chastizing him
for having filed the eomplJinta.
In the aecond case, after a petition had been served, Mr. Gentile conferred with
and hia The respondent offered to aaaept a private admon-
ition but Mr. Gentila aaid that the Mr. Jackon, had demanded the
pendent's acceptance ot a censure. fiben the $aid that h woul4
appeal to Mr . Jaek$on becaus he not believe that that was Mr . 3aokaon'a po-
aition, Mr, Gtntile answered that, if the publio censure were not accepted. he
would amend the petition order to add additional f which Mr _
Qentile known petition wa 6rawn. Upon of Mr. Gentil'
tatemants, Mr . 3aokaon immediately rapudiated them, saying that he had never
th poaition represented by Mr. Gentile and an admonition wae unques-
tionably acceptable.
tn the third ea1e, Mr . Gentile, without from anyone, and controry
to the purpos oe a rule of thie Court , entered intc an with Qnited
Stat9 Attornay the Southern of NIW York to refrain from examining
any witness in a hi9hly criminal proeecution uncil it had been termin-
ated.
In the fourth ca1e, one in which the facts to of conver-
sion; Mr, Gent ile; a close friend of the re1pondent who wa thn a Member of th
DDC, cau1ad the termination of the 1nve1tigation and the olosins of tha file, not-
wi thstanding that the lilc as it then &too4 eontained sufficient to juatity
the public censurs of DOC
Lying to or misleading the chairman, the chairman's
poeiti on to a reepondent, into an unauthori zed agreement wi th a criminal
prosecutor that stifled a gpc inveutigatiQn at its inception, and eevering up the
mi1oonduct of a DOC member , ?? for ?? dischar9
Fourth, except S:or the Roy cohn ease, during the a1x-year per1od. when Mr. Gen-
tile, in or absent from, the of a baeklog that ultimaely
almost doubled . Mr . Gentile, ae far as we have been able to wa6 not in-
volved 1n any of any case nor did he try a single case before a
hearini panel. Nor may it be claimed that Mr. Gentile W&l the counterpart o! a
dlatriat attorney who, an administrator, oannot or dinarily try cases .
Mr. Gentile was not the holder of a po,ition comparable to that * district at-
tornay. The ooce counsel holda a hands on poaition requiring least thQ
trial ot major lt was learnod, before Mr . in 3uly
l988, that Mr . Quntile had not haa any cases to him. On several occa-
s i ons, the matter waa a1euesed by me wich the DDC chairman, togethe w1en the
poblem of port$ to th of Mr. Gentile's absences from hia office and his
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failure to be engaged in CDC woxk in other The chairman himeelt often
could not contact Mr . Gentile. tor no ont at th@ noc knew where he W$9.
These reportu ot the absences and of Mr. Gentile caused me con-
cern upon the tiling with in Ootober 1988 of the cempla1nts of the Attor-
ney General of State of New York again1t c. vernoo Mason in the Brawley case,
a filing wa made th AttQrney G@neral in an extenaive release to
the pre Upon that filing, Mr, Qentile, repeatedly informed the Clerk of tha
Court that he, Mr. GentLle
1
was so frightened by the prospect of the Maaon matter
that he was incline4 to rind a way cf avoi4ing it . Indeed, Mr. Gentile had the
cases assigned not to himself but to a DCC attorney who waa told that that attor-
ney would in tact have noch1n9 eo do with it. The Committee should read that file
and determine the of Mr. Gentile' profeesional judgment ,
Aa to Mr. Gentile'S pereonal judgment, grave doubt about it ha4 ari@n in Septem-
ber 1988 when a domplainant before the DDC 4rew in tha DDC office what wae identi-
!iad by a staff attorney as a gun, to use it unl h1e pending oom-
plainta were determined, and then left the ottioe. Court officers
were immediately ummoned to the DDC. Theraatter, tha Clerk ot the Court inquired
of Mr. Gentile whether Gentilt would cause the arrest. Mr . Gentilt
answered that hi would not do so bteault, he said, the gunm&n waa guilty ot only a
and, in any wvent, the gunman might ehoot Mr. Gent11 it hi oauses his
When told the gunman had committed erimes and that hi; arrest was ne-
oesary in of the staff and of the court Mr. Gentile refused to
authorize the artlt of the gunman when police, having aei21d him that night,
call8d Mr. Gentile. it wa necessary to dirace Gentile to place
the deciaion before the DDC chairman. Mr. who ordered that the mattr be
taken to the office of the Di$trict Attorn@y, a etaff member of which ordered the
gunm-.ns Arrest.
It was apparent to me that a chief counel whom we oould rarely locate, who aem-
ingly tried no ca&es, whose backlog oeemed permanant, whose staff lawyer& ell
from the with an aweintpLring frequency, unethical eon4uee in cer-
tain cases had caused alarm, who lacking 1n courage, waa not
a chief eounel of anything.
upon th ground of inertia alone, Mr . ontile was dischargeable.
tn faot, on Jan. 4 he The New York Times that he had heen thinkins about
ro1i9ning before I aaked for hie reei;nation. He knew ot his danger of diaoharge
in or about March 1ges when h waa intormed that I had intended to recommend a
very small increas@ in hia aalary. He was informed that he ahou1d not misread the
inoreaee. He was told that it was given to encourage him to conflicts about
hia work ana to & would attract his ahould Mr. Q@nt i le
fail,
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As for Ms. Mesh the causes of diechrge are at least svaral. $ht knew of
Mr. Gent1lt
1
8 abandonment of hi gublic office and did not dioloaa it to the DOC
or Court, porhaps bacaus it veeteo her with Mr. ?? which in 1983 had
come scandaloul. I have cause to believe that the overwhelming majority or Commit-
tee mmbr, eager to work, ahared my that of the more than 1,200 docketed
matters only 25 had been heard in all of 1988, ana those 25 were spread among four
panels which sat a total of 51 days. surely Mr. Hynes muat have thought it odd
that he had uat only eight in Did noc wonder why the atatt was not
reducing tht backlog?
More persuasive for Ms. McShea's diacharge, wae the reputatioo earned by
Ms. McShea for of the legal and lay staff follcwini hr *PPOintment
au deputy ohio! counsel. I sat forth a affidavit which purports to
n aepect of M&. personality aa it existed wh8n she undertook
hr ntw pot ae deputy chit counuel. All comment concerning Ms. McSha tht I
thereatter heard wr& consistent with the praonality outlineg in that artidavit,
a copy of which is available to any DCC member:
"[Name], an attorny duly admitted to practice in the State of New York,
the tollowing under the penalty of perjuryt
"l, I am a Staff Attorney to Michael A, Gentile, Chie: to the Department
al Disciplinary Committee of the supreme Court ot the State of New York, Appellate
Divieion, First Ju4ioial Department, ang have been so employed eine$ B, 1980.
"a. Within the oftLcel the Departmental Disciplinary Committee, looatd on the
floor of Madiaon Avenue, New York, New York, my own office space is loc-
ated immediatly nxe eo and aajeining that occupied by the let Deputy Chief coun
sel, and aharea one (l) with that oftice. The door frama cf that
offioe abutta the wall common to both officea, an4 the distartce from that door to
the door of my office ia about 10 feet.
11
3. April 6, 1987 the occupant of the office. and the
First Dputy Counal to the Committee, w xoward Benjamin. After Mr . Sen-
jamin'a aeparture on April 6, 1987 pursuant to his rsignation, May 1,
1987, the office and title of First Deputy Ohi8! Counsel was umed sarah Di-
ane Mcshea.
11
4. I wae in my or! ice with Alan s. Phillips, an Anociate Attorny with the Com-
mittee Staff, on April 14. 1987, when Sarah Diane McShea knocked on the
door and requat4 to speak to Alan S. Phillips. Mr. Phillips and I walked to the
door ol hr oftice.
"S. the door jamb ot her office, and irt the presence of Mr. 'hillips
and myself, sarah Diane McShea displayed to Mr. Phillips a reterence inquiry form
which had ben received in th mail. form waA on 8 1/2 x 11 whit paper, W1th
bold black type heading which read, 'Administrative Law Judge, below that, in
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lell eype. 'Pronal Raterenee Inquiry for JUdge PoeM
Selow that, in the oth@rwiae blank addr paee of the form, appeared
'Mr. Howard Benjamin' along with the addresa ot the Committee.
11
6. sarah asked Mr. Ph:l.l.Hps, 'What should we d.o with this?' to which Mr. Phil-
lips responded that it shoula be given to Howard aenjamin for hia completion.
Sarah raaponded to the gince Howard waa no longer with the Committee,
and she had auaumad his position, ahe should till it out in her capeiey.
''7. Mr. Phillipa responded thlllt the form requested M:r: , Banjamin' s evaluation a a
and wa thtetcre personal to Mr. Benjamin and not to hia title. That
at any rate, Mr, Benjamin was still on the payroll' in the title of First Deputy
Chiet Counsel, Mr. that he had named Howar d Benjamin &i a refer-
ence because he and had known eaoh for eight years, regardless of
Howard's title.
"8. Ms. McShea insisted that the torm was received by her as Howard's succc:
and that he would complete it in that capacity with an explanation that Nr. Ben-
jamin bad resigned. Mr. Phillips repeated that the form wa& addreaed to Howard
Benjamin.
"9 . At that point Chief Counsel Michael A. Gentile the three of us and
inquirad as to what was going on. Both Sarah and Alan reiterated their positiona,
and Mr. Gentile walked away without anawering the quetion.
11
10. At that point, Sarah had walked to the d.elk in her office. I bgn walking
toward the door my o!tice, and Phillips remained, ltandin; tationary in
Sarah's otfie, about 1 1/2 feet in t:em the doorjamb. Aa I walked away, an4
fore I wa more two fet away, I heard Ma. McShea say, in a tone o! voice
that was a much business aa it was conoiliatory, 'I'll tell you what
we'll do.' I stopped and turned around, as I wa eurious to hear h6r proposal or
propoaed 'reaolution' to the situation .
"11, At that point ! heard Sarah Diane McShea s ay to Alan S. Phillips: 'I won' t
fuck you, but I want forty (40) closinss for this month and three (3) sets of new
chargea."
":1.2. I did not see Mr. Phillips reaction, his baoK wu to me, nor d1c1 I
hie responlt
1
if any, aa l turned and continued walking into my
?? with the backlog wa Ms. McShea oppressive use ot a quota system at
lait my eye, mut staff and tended to victimize
plalnant$. In my the impoait1cn and of a quota
cifically for production of dilmiaaal& of complaints were unethical aats of
which Mr. G8ntile knew and which neither he nor Ms. McShea informed t he DDC.
Lat, Ms. McSheA' negative reaction to the appgintment of Mr. Brudie among
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ochtr things, liaison with thia Court, was of such a prolonged magnitude that I
her severance In my opinion. lht waa not a person to whom
over others ahoul4 bt 9ranted, and she had mingly identified heraolt with
Mr . Gentile's interesca. Aoaordingly, it did 1urprise me that Ms. MeSheas
letter of resignation stated, in substance, that havini of Mr. Gentile's
resignation and having served "happily u s Oeputy," this was a propitious
time to in order to purtue nw professional
Ae I sat through the l resignation with Mr. then
M. MeShea, each knew and eoncealed a face that I did not knew an4 of which I
learned on Jan. ' when it was that, during Hal Lieberman, the
DOC lawyer aaaigned its major cae of ignificano8, had resigned,
effective at end af Janumry. on Jan. 4, M. had met with the Clerk
of tht Court and had volunttered in the presanae of another attorney that he had
reaigned because th of cases was and, for lack of &ny planning
by Mr . Gentile &1\<1 Ms. McShea, the backlog "out o.t control." Further, be
atated that aeaff waa by the of Mr. Gentile and Ms .
McShea.
Therafter, Mr . Lieberman Met with me. In the preaence of two othar attorneys, he
volunteered to me the very same &tatemente concerning hia -- the back-
log was lacking a Qomprehensive plan" and the staff waa Ndemoralized and alitn
ated" by Mr . Gentile's and Ma. poor leadership. H8 8tated that import-
ant cases ehat hould be tri$4 were in the files. It is etrikingly
significant chat, while in Decembr I been aonQidering the discharge of Mr.
Gentile and M. McShea for reaeon8 which the backlog and a
e!!, Mr. Liebarman had 4toided to resign those two reasons.
As to certain have been marketed to the praaa by Mr. Gentile or
Ms. McShea, or the both af them, I shall giv brief answer that they deaerve .
Ie it aid that, particularly in Mr . aentile's case, he Wai removed from
his at 5 P.M. on Jan. 6, the day or a snow In the afternoon that
day, t he Clerk oe the court received a inquiry from a rporter who
claimed that he had laarned ehat Mr. Gent11 had been ousted becauae of a reason
that the Clerk knew to be false . The Clrk told the that he woul4 eall
Mr. aentile and ak him to call the rporter. Upon asked to call the report-
er and af!irm or deny the cause for by the reporter, Mr. Gen
tile rpeatedly ahoutea in a "I'M having a nervous
breakdown! I
1
m on the ot a nervous break4own! No comment ta the press! No
comments to the press!"
The Clerk became alarmed that Mr . Qentil wa in that in the 39th floor
fice of the DDC, an offie that was not fully eeaffed beaause of the unow torm.
It be imprudent for Mr. Gentile eo deny under oth the telphcne "conversa-
tion" )tad hy him with the Clrk on the afternoon of Jan. 45.
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The Clerk repor ted that conversation to me after Mr. a DOC attorney,
stated that, upon Mr. Gentile that he had had the otfice locks ahansed ana
that he would be g1oing th@ offioe at S P.M., Mr . Gentile said to Mr. th't
he would not leav the office at that time but would stay until any hcur 4elire4
by him. In view of the report of Mr. Gentile's state and the 1mpoaeibility of pre-
dioting oonduet, I advi&ed Mr . Reynolda to direct Mr. to request the
entire staff thn in the DOC office to leave at S P.M., n4 to aek the court of-
fier then on duty at the DDC to raqueet another court gfcer to be when
the otfiQe was closed. Prcviion f or the posting of a eourt otficer in the DDC of-
fiQe had been made by the Office of Court Administration since September 1988 in
consequence of Mt. Gentile's claim& that an officer was necaDDary beCQ$e,
among other thinge, Mr. Gent il6 wa1 in 4an9er of attack by lawyer who
hao been following him for montha . Accordingly, at 5 P.M., there was a brief,
peaaetul leaving of the DOC office by Mr . Gtntile Jnd Ms. McShea. NO officer
them out . None etoo4 by ehe desk of Mr. GantLlt or Mp , McShea ?? evicticn were in
Their was to but, insofar aa IUCh may be ac-
by civility, they received it.
With respaat to the steinberg DDC matter, several are noteworthy.
First. Judioiary Law S90 drawl a curtain of sBcrecy only around those disciplin-
ary proaAedini involving ateornya who have been lawfully admitted to the Bar. iY
Lagialature intended to protect only tht reputations of such attgrnt'
againat the damage or unproved charges ; a rational eou14 never have
intended to extend contidentiality to parson like Steinberg who had aeoured their
to tho aer by fraud. Hence , the Steinberg file not a motion
for its r eleaae the publ ic.
second, tha News did not mysteriously learn of the St einberg and then
requet it. In its issue Nov. 6. 1987, the Newa publ ished an atticl concerning
thQ l9B3 post-conviction claims of Steinberi's client, John Novak, and
wit, that Steinberg Wll addicted to when he rapreaented Novak in a
federal narcot1Qe trial. The w whan, more than ona year
the Newa on 22, 1988 made a reQQeut of thie Cour t for an examin&tien ot the
DDC
1
s file concetnin9 complaint, a request made by the Newe dur-
ing a ewe wek adjour nment in the Steinber g oriminal trial.
Third, Mr. Gentile's roisnation was not requted solely becauee hie in-
defensible handling of the Steinberg case. 1he o! Mr . Gentile was
cided upgn be!ore the Dec. 22 requeut of the Daily News for an of the
Steinberg file.
The N@W York Times on Jan, 5 an interview of Mr. Gentile to-
gether witb a photograph o! him takBn in his DDC o!fice. Ths Timea article quoted
Mr. GQntil having the DOC ' s handling of the Stinberg matter
14
a
terrific In anwer t hat the Court state4 that it waa

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of another opi nion. Mr. Gntile had blundered inc:re4ibly in reconunending that the
complaint in Steinberg be diemissed.
The DOC might considet appointing a subcommittee to read the Steinberg file anQ
to whether the tetimony of three parona, Mr. and Mrs. Novak Mark
Ames, who have to Steinberg'& gooaine addiction, together with
ltinberge invocation of hi privilege against ael:1ner1m1nation in answer to
any questions oocaine , including h1a addiction to cocaine, would not
have the DDC to move immediately to suspend Steinberg. According to the
Times ana the New Journal, ProfIICt Gillers of New York
echool of Law thinks thae euapen1ion would have followed. If ehat ia
the opinion of the subcommittee, the DOC should reaa the Times Jan. S report of
it Jan, 4 intervi@W of Mr . Mr. Oantil aaid ot Novaks, whom he
hAd nvr mt, "It is quite common for disgruntled clients to make soma-sort of
ettort to attack their lawyers' performance," There is no evidence in the Stein-
berg tile that tne Nevalts were "diflgrurteled."
The Tim article stated that Mr . Gentile "said the Novaka lost interest in hlp-
ini official make a case against Mr. Stcinberg,N these?? wordl of
our former chiaf in whose office tne had awaiting de-
termination from November 1983 through October 1986 and who waa this Courts
direct10rt to unwill1ng witnesses, such as th Ncvak, to appear {Rule
605 . 9). The Novaks n.ve been ideal witneetel they had testified in
the 19$3 federal proceeding that Steinberg apparently was addicted
to aooaine. tranaoripts were part o! the $teinberg file when Mr. Gentile re-
the dismissal cf the complaint.
AI the third witn Steinberg, Mr. the Times reported that Mr.
Gentil aid that Ames "w not reliable. Mr. antile had never mat Mr. Ameo , and
Chere is no evidnae in the file chat Am waa unraliabl.
Ie there any of the ODC who woul4 have kept in hie a lawyer who had
made the statement that Mr . had mad to th Times on Jan. ?
La1t1 the nature of the rlationsnip between the DDC and the needa to be
rutated.
The DDC i the Court
1
s Ita ataff is of
servant whem the Committe hal n'ithtr the power to ppoint nor to di6eharge. The
Ceurt has those an4, in the case of nencompetitiv@ confi4ntial
euch as the chitf couneel and 4puty chiet counsel, not assign any duae
to the DOC or to anyone else. Tnie broad ?? tor many one of
volves the for the exerci&e Qf diAoretion in decidini who is desirable
tor the execution ot sensitive powera.
?? basis for the re1ignationa requeted by me, you muet aak yourself whather your
acceptance ot your waa subject to the condition that the court exer-
Copyriihe t 200A New Ycrk Law Pub. Co.
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oi se ita discretion in discharging DOC employeee only ways acceptable to you.
Put another your commitment to serve the interest could not have been
made a mat t er whol ly within the Coutt ' l To say otherwise
would be to Gay that your appointment is subject tc the Court's opinion concerning
the wagea you pay your mployees, a condition that would surprise you, to say
nothing of your
However , shoula you think that I am right, cr that certain ieeuee are seemingly
unresolv&ble, or that you nave your discretion in way
but for th $ame purposes, or that Committ ee's involvement in the rigna-
tions of Mr . Gentile MJ, McShea has shown why it ia not the proper business of
this committee to review a di s c retion vested by law aolely in this court. then X
invite you to the wor k of Committee which has enjoyed a un
eb&re4 by Jny other in the nation. our tfferee lhould be in the
of what is and not in the direotlon of what is de-
structive and d1Vi8ive,
NYW !, (col. l)
END OF DOCtJMIN'l'
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2008 The New Yor k Law Pub. Co.