Federal Judiciary

BAIT AND SWITCH
By Mark Thompson
markthomp@yahoo.com
Posted 09-24-08

Queens County Justice Joseph Grosso let prosecutors brazenly bait and switch Christopher Lodge into agreeing to plead guilty to first-degree sexual abuse in exchange for a promise that prosecutors would not thwart his bid to be sentenced leniently as a youthful offender. Once they had his plea in hand, prosecutors turned around and argued in court that he did not deserve youthful offender treatment. Grosso evidently didn’t bat an eye, but a unanimous appellate panel said the prosecutorial trickery was “blatantly unfair and offends our sense of justice and integrity.” The panel sent the case back for resentencing and ordered that this time the matter should be handled by a different judge. People v Lodge (September 16)
 

Full post as published by Judicial Reports on September 24, 2008 (boomark / email).