FORMER Police Lt. Patricia Feerick yesterday fired the first salvo in a battle that could turn out to be Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s worst nightmare.
Feerick strode confidently into the 12th-floor courtroom of Judge Joan Sudolnik and acted as her own lawyer in an attempt to exact a measure of justice after the 10 years of injustice she’s had to endure.
“I am determined to regain my name, my reputation and my fu-
ture that was taken from me and three other fine cops by the district attorney’s office in 1990,” she said.
“It has been 10 years that we have all been going through this, and I hope it doesn’t take another 10 years. But if that’s what it takes, that’s what they will get. We are going to win.”
To recap: In 1990, Feerick and officers Myra Shultz, Orlando Rosario and John DeVito were winning a running battle in cleaning a rat’s nest of drug dealers who belonged to the “Purple City” gang.
During a near-riot, an officer’s radio was stolen in a confrontation at the Taino Towers complex on East 122nd Street. A rash of phony transmissions occurred in the 25th Precinct.
A desperate search of Taino Towers followed. A search warrant was issued. But a bunch of lowlifes claimed one apartment was illegally searched.
At the direction of a nutty judge named Bonnie Wittner, the court chose to believe the words of Ben Stokes, an admitted drug dealer and a leader in the Purple City gang, which was responsible for seven homicides.
Three other druggies gave evidence. Oh, what citizens! What a court hearing. What a judge.
Feerick was sentenced to two years in jail. But after a Post campaign, Gov. Pataki commuted the sentence to 35 days.
“But myself and the other cops will be satisfied with nothing less than complete vindication,” she said.
So yesterday, dressed in a light-blue pinstripe suit, Feerick, a lawyer, announced in a clear voice: “I’m representing myself, your honor.”
The hearing was a conference to decide on a hearing. But again prosecutors tried to sabotage Feerick.
“A judge in Queens had already granted us a hearing, but [Assistant District Attorney John] Dormin opposed it because it was in a different jurisdiction. The district attorney’s office had earlier agreed to a hearing. Why the change of heart?” Feerick said.
“OK, we have to start the motion all over again. It just slows us down, but we do believe the judge will expedite this matter. Ten years is a long time to go through this.
“This district attorney’s office seems hell-bent to keep this case from court. Well, they don’t know how determined myself and my three colleagues are.”
This case has been a stain on this city ever since it started. It was politics in its rawest and most blatant form.
Morgenthau had his nose put out of joint when the Mollen Commission stole his political thunder. He was determined to lock up cops, too … at any cost.
Four lives have been ruined by this outrage, but I have an idea that with Pat Feerick representing herself, the fight has just begun.