Today former state comptroller Alan Hevesi was supposed to be sentenced for "official misconduct," which in his case refers to the time he gave investment firms a chance to manage the billions in NY's pension fund in return for favors for his family, friends and associates. Hevesi faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, and the judge who was to sentence him gave that maximum sentence last month to Hank Morris, Hevesi’s former political aide. But Hevesi could not be sentenced today, in part because his insides are bleeding.
Though the severity of Hevesi's condition remains unclear, his attorney, Bradley Simon, tells the Times his client is undergoing an endoscopy for internal bleeding. The Wall Street Journal describes it as an "emergency procedure." Simon has also asked the judge, Lewis Bart Stone of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, to recuse himself because of his personal relationship with Simon's estranged father. The AP reports that Simon made the request after he "learned that his parents' wills have disinherited him — and that the judge is the executor of those wills, as well as a trustee of a trust the parents had set up. Simon called that a conflict of interest."
Today Judge Stone angrily dismissed that assertion and refused to fully recuse himself, though he did agree to hand over the responsibility of sentencing to another judge. In so doing, dismissed the recusal request was a "meritless" publicity stunt, adding, "The effect of such publicity has been to create a counter story — that of the propriety of this court’s continuing on the case — to the real story here, that of Mr. Hevesi’s felony conviction." But can't we enjoy both stories without having to pick sides?
