Monroe County Da's Office Admonished in Sex Abuse Trial
By Gary Craig and Will Cleveland
A regional appellate court has admonished the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, saying that the appeals court has had to recently reverse several verdicts “based upon prosecutorial misconduct.” The court did not, however, reverse the conviction in the case at issue: The sexual abuse conviction of former pastor Joe Flowers Jr., who authorities maintained repeatedly sexually abused a boy younger than 13 years old. In its ruling, the appellate court said the recent cases of concern were mostly cases that “involved charges of sexual abuse against a child” and the same prosecutor. The prosecutor is not named, but former Assistant District Attorney Kristina “Kitty” Karle, who is now in private practice, confirmed it is her. She is now running for District Attorney in Ontario County. "When you're fighting for children who have been sexually abused, it's hard not to get passionate," Karle said. "If the worst thing people can say about me is that I fight too hard for kids, so be it. "I hear what they said. I don't have to agree with it, but I hear what they said. And if the higher court thinks I said something I shouldn't, I will take it under consideration moving forward." Karle said it was most important that the conviction was affirmed. Karle was one of five prosecutors Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley released when she first took office. On Friday, Doorley acknowledged that the prosecutor cited by the appellate court is no longer with the office, but Doorley declined to comment further about the individual. Local defense lawyer Mark Foti said the strong language from the appellate court was unusual. “In cases involving prosecutorial misconduct, it is extremely rare for the appellate division to directly admonish the prosecutor involved, and it is even more extraordinary for them to direct their comments at the entire office,” Foti said. Still, the appellate court — the Fourth Department Appellate Division of State Supreme Court — decided that Karle’s misconduct in Flowers’ trial did not reach a threshold warranting a reversal of Flowers’ conviction. Flowers’ appellate attorney, Assistant Public Defender Janet Somes, contended on appeal that Karle, in her closing argument, veered wildly out of legal bounds. The appellate judges concurred, deciding that, among her legal missteps, Karle wrongly attacked the character of the defense counsel; misstated the evidence of a defense witness; improperly implied that an adolescent witness opted not to testify because of “guilt” about Flowers’ actions; and presented herself as an “unsworn expert” by saying that Flowers demonstrated “classic (child abuse) grooming behavior” in his dealings with the young victim. "They don't like that I said he (Flowers) groomed him," Karle said. She added, "He did. ... It doesn't take an expert to talk about grooming. I simply talked about the behavior of this individual with respect to this child." Court records show that the District Attorney’s Office in fact conceded during the appeal that portions of Karle’s closing argument were improper. During trial, defense attorney Maurice Verrillo objected to some of Karle’s comments, and then-Monroe County Judge James Piampiano agreed with the objections. Piampiano is now a state Supreme Court justice. “Although there were several instances of misconduct during the prosecutor’s summation, the court thoroughly instructed the jury before summations that … nothing that an attorney says during his or her summation is evidence, and that the jury must decide the case only on the evidence and the law, and not on anything that is said during a summation,” the appellate division ruled in its decision Friday, affirming Flowers’ conviction. Doorley said Friday that “we’re very pleased that the (conviction) was affirmed.” She said on Monday she plans to notify her prosecutors about the decision as a reminder that the courtroom rules are important for all involved. “It’s not always getting the win,” she said. “We have to make sure we do it the right way.” The rights of the accused are also essential to the courtroom process, she said. Doorley said her office has engaged in “extensive training” about the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. Flowers can seek to have his case heard by New York’s highest court, the state Court of Appeals. He is serving a sentence of seven years in prison. Contact: GCRAIG@Gannett.com
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