Lawyer, Heal Thyself

Lawyer, heal thyself
The New York Post  -  EDITORIAL  -  March 29, 2012

‘When you get as old as I am, and you’ve done as much stuff as I have, you start to think you know as much as anybody,” says Lloyd Constantine, mentor and onetime top adviser to disgraced ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.  But what New York just learned about Constantine, an accomplished lawyer, is that he actually knows very little — not about his responsibilities as a trial juror, and most especially not about his obligations as an officer of the court.  Constantine sat on the jury that tried the case of now-former NYPD Officer Michael Pena — and by all accounts was one of those who refused to find him guilty of rape charges.  But it wasn’t until deliberations were well under way that the court learned — from another juror — about Constantine’s numerous conflicts concerning jury service in New York County.  Namely, Constantine is a social friend of Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr., whose office prosecuted the case; a Vance campaign contributor — and the law partner of Richard Aborn, who ran against Vance in 2009.  All that adds up to a cast-in-brass conflict of interest — yet Constantine stayed mum through the jury-selection process.  Why? Well, he said, no one asked me.  And why didn’t he volunteer the information himself? Said Constantine: He was afraid people would think it “a blatant attempt on my part to get out of” jury duty.  Besides, he added, he gave himself his “own subjective test” — and decided that he could be impartial and didn’t have to tell anyone else about his conflicts.  That’s outrageous.  Constantine — again, a 40-year veteran of the legal system — risked a total mistrial, entailing months of wasted effort and thousands of dollars in taxpayer expense.  All because he didn’t want anyone to think he was shirking his duty — or so he claims. Fortunately, all sides agreed to let him continue on the jury.  But he apparently had no problem opening his mouth once deliberations began: He reportedly was outspoken behind closed doors and trashed the prosecution’s case.  As a result, the jury deadlocked on the rape charges — despite pretty solid evidence that a rape had taken place.  Pena was convicted of predatory sexual assault — meaning that he faces the same 25-to-life prison term a rape conviction would’ve brought.  And Vance, to his credit, says he’ll ask for precisely that sentence.  But the larger issue here is how Lloyd Constantine and his secret personal smell test might have endangered the entire case.  All of which should leave New Yorkers breathing a sigh of relief that he’s no longer calling shots in Albany.