A letter to David “Mickey” Myer’s family and the greater community regarding November 2’s Daily Freeman article:

The District Attorney’s Office is concerned that the persistent conduct of generating or publishing inaccurate narratives and impressions from Ulster County Court for public consumption is wrong and inappropriate. It severely distresses victims of crime and does a disservice to the community and those victims of crime.

It is imperative that false and misleading records and impressions be corrected to avoid the stress and trauma that victims and witnesses go through whenever such misleading or false impressions are published in the Daily Freeman.

Accusations based on false or incomplete contexts continue to cause stress for the victims’ families in these serious crimes; they also unfairly adversely impact the confidence of the community in this office. A secondary concern is the impact of these contrived situations upon the diligent young women and men of this office who are then publicly and unjustly humiliated in Daily Freeman newspaper articles. It needs to stop!

This has happened again in Ulster County Court, in the Karolys case, at a crucial point during voting, four days before Election Day, for the next DA in which Chief ADA Nneji was a candidate.

The following background account gives accurate information and context about the Karolys matter and what was scheduled (and expected) to happen on November 2, 2023. It is hoped that this will answer and assuage the concerns of David “Mickey” Myer’s family and friends who have called this office with their concerns, as well as others in our community.

Mr. Karolys was arraigned in February of this year. He was represented by attorneys Bill Pretsch and Mel Higgins who have a combined experience of over 100 years as criminal defense attorneys. Chief ADA Nneji and ADA Kristin Druse, [who is] also Chief of the Anti-Gun Violence Unit, worked on the case and presented it to the grand jury together.

All available evidence was turned over to these defense attorneys. Under the law, new evidence is to be turned over by both sides as the prosecution and investigation of any case continues; that remains the case in Karolys. Ms. Carol Morgan, attorney for the younger Karolys, later joined the defense team in this case.

The law does not require the DA or defense to repeat or duplicate disclosure to every defense attorney or prosecutor that enters a case – once evidence is disclosed to one attorney in a case, the law is satisfied, and all other attorneys in the case are responsible for sharing what they receive.

However, as a matter of courtesy, this Office has routinely assisted Ms. Morgan with multiple requests for assistance — our Discovery Unit has repeatedly gone out of its way on its own, or at the request or direction of Chief ADA Nneji, to assist Ms. Morgan.

The law required Karolys’ attorneys to file motions (or stipulations) within 45 days from the date of arraignment. They did not do so. Judge Rounds gave them an additional 45 days; they still did nothing. Their failure to file their motions or stipulations within those 90 days meant that they forfeited the right to do so by the end of May. This fact does not change by sending email with proposed stipulations on August 2, several months after the times set for them by the law and court expired. Yet, the court disregarded that the time had expired, which should have ended the inquiry, but proceeded with the defense’s baseless allegations and narrative that Chief ADA Nneji was in violation of discovery rules and orders.

The Karolys case was scheduled for pretrial hearings on November 2, 2023, but Ms. Morgan never filed anything for such hearings. In general, pretrial hearings are the process to determine the admissibility of certain types of evidence in a trial. It is the responsibility of the defense attorney to seek such hearings by filing motions or stipulations as discussed above.

Another lawyer, the fourth to handle this case, Mr. Jeffrey Chabrowe of New York City joined the defense team in October. The defense team asked the court to postpone the pretrial hearings which they already forfeited by failing to file for it within 45 days as required by law, or 90 days as extended by Judge Rounds. Chief ADA Nneji and ADA Druse did not ask for or cause this or any other delay.

Judge Rounds’ office responded on October 17 that the case was now being placed on the calendar for oral arguments. In response to the court’s email on October 17, Chief ADA Nneji wrote to the court saying: “Sorry, I am not aware of any motion or stipulation for oral argument. The People are entitled to sufficient notice of whatever specific issue(s) that is/are the subject for oral argument. There is nothing filed/served upon the People by the defense. The court’s order directed that motions be filed/served within 90 days — double the time prescribed by statute, but the defense did not comply or seek to stipulate to anything. I don’t want to waste the court’s or anyone’s time.”

Judge Rounds’ office responded by email saying that “this matter is scheduled for an in-person appearance not oral arguments to discuss all the issues that have arisen and for scheduling purposes. There was also a new attorney added to the defense and this will get everyone on the same page.” This type of appearance generally happens in chambers. To the surprise of this Office, Patricia Doxsey of the Daily Freeman was present and the court proceeded in open court with oral arguments which lasted three hours, despite the lack of any legitimate legal issues.

The court attributed to the DA the delays caused by the defense’s failure to perform their obligations. Whatever the motivation, this is not appropriate — as previously noted, it causes stress to victims’ families and friends and results in frantic calls signifying their intense concerns; and it unfairly undermines public confidence in the performance of the DA’s Office.

Hopefully David “Mickey” Myer’s family and friends, and anyone who read and was concerned about the Karolys case in the Daily Freeman on November 2 and afterwards, four days before a critical election, now have a proper context to evaluate the story contained in the newspaper article.

Ulster County District Attorney’s Office

Kingston