CORTLAND COUNTY -- Cortland County District Attorney Mark Suben is countering a claim of impropriety by saying he did not want a repeat of a high profile murder case.
The attorney for Ricky Chesebro filed a motion asking the court to assign a special prosecutor. Ronald Benjamin claims the D.A. was aware of a conflict of interest when he had Chesebro jailed after allegedly sending his wife a Hallmark card in violation of a court order. Assistant D.A. Karen Howe represents Chesebro's wife as her private attorney. "Somebody has a misplaced sense as to what the responsibility of a District Attorney is." Benjamin told CNY Central.
D.A. Suben says he will file legal papers to answer Benjamin's claim. "This attorney has made some allegations in these court papers maligning the integrity of a very capable attorney and an outstanding public servant." he said.
Suben said Chesebro faced other complaints besides the card incident, and he saw "alarming" similarities between Chesebro's marital dispute and the 2008 murder of Wendy Thibeault by her estranged husband. "When I saw that conduct of this fellow Chesebro that appeared to be to be out of control, I took steps I thought were appropriate to try and slow that train down."
Benjamin disagreed, "To compare the...alleged sending of some type of Hallmark card to a murder seems to me to be so far disproportionate, like trying to use a machine gun to kill an ant."
Benjamin says a hearing on his motion to take the D.A. off the case will be heard next month.
