Lawyer for fired Paterson cop urges court to throw out excessive force indictment
PATERSON — The lawyer representing Spencer Finch, the city police officer fired three years ago over excessive force accusations, is asking the courts to scrap the charges against his client, who was acquitted in a separate case last December.
Attorney Eric Kleiner filed his motion to dismiss the indictment Thursday, asserting that Finch has been targeted in “a bad faith selective prosecution,” arguing that prosecutors failed to share evidence that would have helped the former officer’s case.
Speaking in court on Thursday afternoon, Kleiner said Finch attended an April 4 Policemen's Benevolent Association meeting where he learned information that Kleiner said the prosecutors should have revealed to him before the first trial.
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The lawyer said someone at the PBA meeting told Finch that Brandon Cosby, the man he was accused of assaulting, had made phone calls in which he spoke to police dispatchers “in a loud, aggressive, and threatening manner that indicated he was out-of-control.”
Kleiner said the prosecutor’s alleged withholding of evidence in the first trial showed that Finch was being treated unfairly and should be part of the basis for dismissing the second indictment.
The defense lawyer asserted that he still has not received all the records he requested from the Prosecutor’s Office in the second case involving Finch’s use of force while arresting Justin Montgomery in 2018. Montgomery had allegedly stolen ice cream from a convenience store.
More: Paterson police officers took the Fifth in a grand jury session involving Spencer Finch
“Now, after one acquittal and after the defendant’s family has been robbed of their retirement savings and other funds, the prosecution is moving forward with the remaining weaker indictment,” Kleiner wrote in his motion.
“The instant matter,” Kleiner continued, “stems from a frivolous allegation that Finch used excessive force to subdue Montgomery, a strong-arm robbery suspect who attacked Finch and other officers on scene, likely while attempting to flee from the location where the alleged robbery occurred when police responded.”
$500,000 settlement for Montgomery from Paterson
Paterson officials already have approved a $500,000 settlement for Montgomery in the lawsuit he filed against the city.
Chief Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Peter Foy, head of the Public Integrity Unit, said Thursday afternoon that he has not had a chance to read Kleiner’s motion. Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark gave Foy until May 31 to respond to Kleiner’s request for the indictment’s dismissal.
“I provided everything I have,” Foy told Clark during the court session.
But Kleiner said he was not buying the prosecutor’s assurances. “I look at that with a jaundiced eye,” the defense lawyer said.
Finch’s termination in 2021 was a milestone in several respects. He was the first Paterson officer charged with crimes based on police body-camera video evidence. He also was the first Paterson officer in many decades who was fired while criminal charges were pending against him. Others accused of crimes were terminated only after they were convicted.
Finch’s lawyer has blamed Mayor Andre Sayegh, saying he targeted Finch to score “political points” before his 2022 election run. Kleiner also has called into question the timing of the charges, noting that authorities indicted Finch in the 2021 Cosby incident within a year but waited more than four years before getting an indictment in the 2018 Montgomery encounter.
More: What’s next for Paterson after Spencer Finch's acquittal on excessive force charges?
“The Montgomery case was dead on arrival until the Cosby case came about,” Kleiner wrote in his brief. “These charges regarding Montgomery were dusted off and taken from the trash bin in order to force Finch to take a guilty plea.”
But Finch refused to plead guilty. Kleiner said the courts should dimiss the second indictment so that Finch can resume working as a Paterson police officer.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson police officer files to drop excessive force indictment
