NEW CITY – A State Supreme Court decision has ruled that attorney Michael Sussman should not be removed from the Grafton Thomas machete attack case.
Thomas, of Greenwood Lake, is accused of injuring five people when he entered a rabbi’s house in Monsey during a Hanukkah ceremony last December while wielding the weapon.
Thomas’ attorney learned that his client had lived for a period of time in a Wurtsboro cottage and went there with Thomas’ mother and a member of the clergy. He gathered and logged evidence he recovered including medication and writings.
Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh II filed court papers to have Sussman disqualified as the attorney for Thomas maintaining Sussman violated the advocate-witness rule that “generally requires the lawyer to withdraw from employment when it appears that he or a member of his firm will be called to testify regarding a disputed issue of fact.”
The court noted that “once representation is undertaken, the lawyer must withdraw as advocate if it appears that he must testify on behalf of his own client, or if it appears that he will be called as a witness to testify for the adverse part, where his testimony may be prejudicial to the client he is representing.”
While the DA maintained Sussman will be required to testify about the recovered items, the prosecutor “failed to articulate the likelihood that the recovered items would be introduced at trial or that the circumstances of their discovery will be disputed.”
In the February 14 court decision, Justice Kevin Russo said the DA “failed to consider the fact that several witnesses to the recovery exist, making Mr. Sussman’s testimony cumulative. Therefore, it cannot be said that Mr. Sussman’s testimony is likely or required on that issue.”
Sussman maintains Thomas has mental health issues and is not fit to stand trial.
Thomas has been charged on the state and federal levels with attempted murder and other charges.
