BUFFALO, N.Y. — As it prepares to bring to bring Pharaoh's strip club owner Peter Gerace to trial, the federal government is making another attempt to get one of his lawyers thrown off the case.
This motion by federal prosecutors comes just weeks after a judge denied their previous attempt to disqualify Eric Soehnlein from representing Gerace and raises different grounds for their effort.
The case against Peter Gerace and his co-defendant, former DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni, was originally before federal judge John Sinatra until Sinatra recused himself after the defense said it might call two witnesses who are Sinatra's relatives.
Prosecutors suggested the defense purposely did that as a means to find a judge more favorable to Gerace and not only moved to have Soehnlein disqualified from representing Gerace, but then also raised the specter of charging him for obstruction of justice.
This was flatly rejected in a ruling by the judge now assigned to the case, Lawrence Vilardo.
However, just weeks after that ruling, the latest gambit by lead prosecutor Joseph Tripi is to have Soehnlein disqualified because of potential "conflicts of interest."
One of them has to do with Soehnlein previously representing a witness who testified before the grand jury, which indicted Gerace.
The other has to do with the death of a witness.
Initially charged with with drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and bribing Bongiovanni, Gerace was then charged in a superseding indictment for allegedly having a hand in the fatal overdose of former Pharaoh's worker Crystal Quinn who was found dead in a home in Wellsville last summer.
Prosecutors suggest Gerace would have been informed by his attorneys that Quinn was going to testify against him and that if Gerace, as now alleged, engage in a conspiracy to arrange her death, then this could potentially make Soehnlein a witness to a crime involving his client which could create another conflict.
Defendants are suppose to have "Conflict-free" counsel by an attorney whose sole loyalty is to their best interest.
However, they also have a right to continue to be represented by a lawyer even if there's a conflict, and that is something the government is also asking the judge to deny Gerace.
At the very least it is requesting the judge to order a Curcio hearing, where the judge would ask Gerace in the presence of his attorney if he is aware of, or was informed by his lawyer if there were any potential conflicts, if he was able to consult another lawyer regarding the potential conflicts, and if he understands that by sticking with his attorney he would also waive any potential damage to his case if there is indeed a conflict as alleged by the government.
Curcio hearings can be concerning to defense attorneys.
To have a judge inform a defendant that there are questions surrounding the conduct of their attorney, even if no conflict actually exists, could then make a defendant decide to dismiss them or even dissuade other potential clients from hiring the same lawyer.
Meanwhile Gerace remains in custody at the Chautauqua County jail awaiting a trial for which there is still no confirmed date.