Albany Prosecutor Hit With Professional Misconduct Finding (1)

The New York judicial committee tasked with reviewing complaints against attorneys found that President Donald Trump’s US attorney pick in Albany committed professional misconduct.

There is “sufficient basis for a finding of professional misconduct” involving John Sarcone in response to an August complaint filed months after he was appointed interim US attorney for the Northern District of New York, the Attorney Grievance Committee for the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department wrote in a letter released Monday.

The letter, shared in a press release by the nonprofit Campaign for Accountability, responds to claims the organization submitted that Sarcone “engaged in erratic and potentially illegally conduct,” including false statements over an alleged assault attempt against him that resulted in criminal charges against the alleged assailant.

The 21-member panel “took appropriate action” and “the matter is concluded,” Elena Jaffe Tastensen, chair of the grievance committee, wrote in the letter shared with Campaign for Accountability on May 6.

Jaffe Tastensen didn’t elaborate on the action the committee took, noting that “all papers, records and documents of a disciplinary investigation and proceeding are sealed and deemed private and confidential.”

“We regret that we cannot be more specific about the nature of the action taken,” she wrote.

Sarcone, who had no prior prosecutorial experience and now leads the US attorney’s office under the first assistant title, is one of several federal prosecutor picks that courts have ruled were unlawfully installed to their roles as the Justice Department attempts to keep individuals loyal to the administration’s agenda in leadership roles.

Sarcone is awaiting a ruling from a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on his appeal of a judge’s ruling that he was improperly appointed to his role and was disqualified from proceeding with investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), one of Trump’s political adversaries.

Federal judges in the Northern District of New York declined last summer to extend Sarcone’s appointment after his interim expired, prompting the Trump administration to keep him on leading the office as first assistant. This title is typically reserved for an office’s second-in-command who leads the office during a US attorney vacancy.

Campaign for Accountability focused much of its August complaint on statements Sarcone made about an alleged assault attempt in June, and a claim that he falsely attested to his residential address.

Sarcone made statements about the alleged assault attempt that contradicted what appeared to be shown in security videos, Campaign for Accountability wrote at the time.

Sarcone claimed after the incident that the individual, Saul Morales-Garcia, lunged at him with a knife and threatened his life. After initially charging Morales-Garcia, with attempted murder, Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon dropped this charge and reduced the weapons violation to a misdemeanor.

“A fair reading of the evidence and controlling case law informs that this incident did not rise to the level of attempted murder,” Kindlon said in a June statement. Morales-Garcia pleaded guilty in July to the misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Each of Sarcone’s actions, Campaign for Accountability wrote, likely violated various state rules on professional attorney conduct, including a regulation prohibiting a prosecutor “from instituting or causing to institute a criminal charge when the prosecutor ‘knows or it is obvious that the charge is not supported by probable cause.’”

Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement Monday that while the organization was pleased with the committee’s professional misconduct finding, a more public display of accountability was necessary.

“A secret slap on the wrist is insufficient,” Kuppersmith said. “Mr. Sarcone’s pattern of conduct reflects on his credibility as an officer of the court, so any court in which he appears—along with the public—deserves to know what he was sanctioned for and why.”

DOJ spokesperson Emily Covington pushed back on Campaign for Accountability’s complaint and condemned Morales-Garcia, whom authorities have said is an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador.

“John Sarcone was a victim of a violent crime by a criminal alien, and this baseless complaint is nothing more than a politicized attack on a United States Attorney,” Covington said in a statement.

Sarcone’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.