New York Post
By Kenneth Lovett
October 15, 2006 | 4:00am
ALBANY- Jeanine Pirro ignored a request to retest the DNA of a convicted murderer who has since been found innocent and released, unearthed federal legal documents show Jeffrey Deskovic was freed last month after nearly 16 years in prison when Pirro’s successor as Westchester district attorney had the DNA retested.
Federal court papers obtained last week by the Innocence Project show Deskovic’s lawyer in 2000 – when Pirro was still DA – made a similar request to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Those papers were served on Pirro’s office, but no retesting took place after the federal court rejected the motion.
Deskovic charged that Pirro had ignored a letter he’d sent begging she reopen the case.
Pirro has argued the needed DNA technology didn’t exist at the time.
However, the new technology was available in 2000 when the court request was made, says the Innocence Project.
Pirro spokesman John Gallagher said the papers, which surfaced as Pirro prepares today to debate Democratic opponent Andrew Cuomo, make it clear “that no evidence existed” when Pirro was still DA.
Gallagher insisted that when asked to take another look at cases directly by the Innocence Project, Pirro always complied.
Said Cuomo spokeswoman Wendy Katz: “We now know that an innocent young man was a tragic victim of Mrs. Pirro’s prosecutorial error.”