MONTICELLO- Ahead of a Thursday (today’s) news conference where Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty will discuss the findings of a grand jury report released by his office last week, former Sullivan County Attorney Michael McGuire is speaking out against the report’s findings. McGuire released volumes of emails and text messages, many of which seem to contradict the findings of the grand jury report.
The investigation was prompted by the death of 16-month-old Akasha Luvert from a fentanyl overdose in a Liberty motel in May of 2023. Luvert and her family were under the supervision of the county’s Department of Social Service’s Child Protective Services (CPS) unit at the time of her death.
The grand jury report recommended sweeping changes in the way CPS cases are handled in the county, and placed the blame for Luvert’s death on the County Attorney’s Office under McGuire’s leadership at the time. The report accused the County Attorney’s Office of providing poor legal representation to CPS by failing to petition the court to remove Luvert from her parent’s care.
McGuire says the responsibility to remove a child is that of Social Service Commissioner John Liddle, and as County Attorney, he had no authority to remove a child.
“All of this that’s out there about begging me to remove, and asking me to remove, and me refusing–all of that are complete red herrings because the law doesn’t give me that authority,” said McGuire. “The authority to do that rests with John Liddle and his staff and by extension Brian Conaty and his staff. Any police officer can do that, and it’s not that they can do it, the law says they must do it.”
A state Office of Children and Family Services report issued in September lists several required actions on the part of CPS including failure to monitor, inadequacy of CPS caseworker contacts, and failure to complete, document, and monitor a Plan of Safe Care on the part of county workers. The report also indicates that DSS workers should conference with their legal department and consider whether or not court action is necessary.
McGuire says Conaty shouldn’t be involved in this case because there is no suggestion there is a crime that has been committed. McGuire thinks that the matter should be handled by the county’s human resource and corporate compliance departments because it is a personnel, not a criminal matter.
Conaty will be presenting the findings of the grand jury at a news conference on Thursday morning at his office in Monticello.
