BUFFALO, N.Y. — When Pharaoh's nightclub owner Peter Gerace goes on trial for charges including bribery, drug trafficking, and sex trafficking he'll be able to keep a member of his defense team after a judge ruled against an effort by prosecutors to have one of his attorneys disqualified.
In his 45 page decision, Federal Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo rejected at every turn the government's motion and used words like "terrifying" "scary" and "chilling" to describe the scenario if he were to agree with prosecutors to take a lawyer off the case who the judge concludes did nothing illegal.
Indeed, the judge determined attorney Eric Soehnlein was just doing his job and in fact is protected in that respect.
The case against Peter Gerace was originally before federal Judge John Sinatra. However, 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 by Vilardo, who currently presides in the case, who noted the witness names were originally produced by the government, and that Soehnlein's mention of them possibly being called at trial could in no way constitute a crime, especially under the so called safe harbor clause for attorneys.
Vilardo wrote: "To hold otherwise would create an inherent conflict in the representation of every criminal defendant. Rather than ask the question that they are duty bound by the constitution to consider – what is in my client's best interest? Defense attorneys would have to ask a second question, What if the government thinks I have a corrupt motive in making this decision? In the moment when the attorney pauses to ask that second question, the defendant's sixth amendment right disintegrates because the attorney is now thinking about himself or herself instead of the client. And that runs counter to the obligation of providing zealous representation free from conflict or constraint."
Moreover, the judge concluded that lawyers should not have to worry that objectively legitimate decisions they make in defending clients will lead to a criminal investigation against them whenever the government perceives a nefarious motive. And, that his ruling seeks to ensure that they do not have to.
According to Gerace, who sent us a host of documents from where he's currently housed at the Chautauqua County jail awaiting trial, it's part of a government pattern by Assistant US Attorney Joseph Tripi to deny him effective counsel.
In a lengthy statement to 2 On Your Side, Gerace accused Tripi of prosecutorial misconduct, and claims Tripi pressured vulnerable witnesses to provide false testimony to the point where they took their own lives.
He specifically names former State Supreme Court Justice John Michalski, labeled as an unindicted co-conspirator, and Crystal Quinn, a former employee at Pharaoh's.
According to Gerace both had mental health issues and previous suicide attempts which Tripi "unethically exploited."
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