February 19, 2007
"Overturned Murder Conviction Casts Doubt on Pirro Legacy"
The headline above the article in yesterday's Journal News speaks volumes. A year after Ms. Pirro left office, the article states, "a reversal in one of her signature cases has raised questions about the rules by which Pirro played." The reference is to the DiSimone case, but the real question raised in the article is whether we're looking at a pattern of misconduct that spans more than one case:
"This month, U.S. District Judge Charles Brieant unconditionally overturned the murder conviction of reputed gangster Anthony DiSimone, citing 'egregious' misconduct in a trial that Pirro had called a long and hard-fought win over organized crime.
"The ruling came months after former inmate Jeffrey Deskovic said Pirro refused to test DNA evidence that last year exonerated him in a 1989 Peekskill rape and murder."
It's all well and good to question Ms. Pirro's legacy, but there is more at stake than one prosecutor's, or politician's, legacy, namely, people's lives. Given the questions raised "about the rules by which Pirro played," isn't the next logical question obvious? Were more innocent people sent to prison on her watch? Wouldn't a true commitment to justice require a reexamination of the prosecutor's methods in the other controversial cases in the Pirro era?