DA-police feud turns Bernie Fine investigation "into a circus," experts say

By Paul Riede

November 27, 2011

The Post-Standard

 

EXCERPT:

 

James Cohen, an assistant professor of law at Fordham University and a criminal defense attorney, agreed that Fitzpatrick is right to be upset about the police not freely sharing records.

 

“It’s highly, highly, highly unusual for there not to be cooperation between the police department and district attorney’s office,” he said. “If the district attorney expresses interest in a case that the police are already investigating, nine times out of 10, or even more, the two organizations cooperate with one another.”

 

Eric Lane, a professor at Hofstra University School of Law and a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, agreed.

 

“It is ridiculously embarrassing to have to go to court for those records,” he said. But both men, who reviewed Fitzpatrick’s news conference and the news coverage surrounding it at The Post-Standard’s request, said the DA went overboard.

 

 

Read the full article on syracuse.com.