Kerik Lawyer Loses Bid for Disqualification Documents
A judge has refused to give the defense lawyer for former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik access to evidence that prosecutors are using to try to toss him off the case.
Prosecutors claim lawyer Kenneth Breen is a potential witness to obstruction of justice by Kerik in a prior case, the New York Times reports. They claim Kerik gave false statements to his lawyers in the prior case, which involved a gift of $255,000 in renovations to his apartment; the lawyers are not accused of wrongdoing.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Robinson of White Plains refused yesterday to order prosecutors to disclose the information, but has not yet ruled on their motion to disqualify Breen.
Kerik is accused of crimes including accepting the apartment renovation, lying to the White House and cheating on his income taxes, the Associated Press reports.
Breen claims in a court filing that prosecutors’ public airing of the obstruction allegation is “tainting the jury pool and irreparably harming Mr. Kerik’s ability to obtain a fair trial.”
