A lawyer for Bernard Kerik accused the feds of trying to ruin the disgraced former police commissioner’s chances at a fair trial by trying to force him off the case, but he could be fighting an uphill battle.
In a blow to Kerik’s bid to keep attorney Kenneth Breen on the case, Judge Stephen Robinson yesterday refused to grant the defense access to prosecutors’ evidence that Kerik allegedly fed his lawyers false information to pass on to authorities.
Kerik is under federal indictment for charges that include receiving an illegal gift of $255,000 in renovations to his Riverdale apartment.
Prosecutors have threatened to force both Breen and Kerik’s former lawyer Joseph Tacopina to take the witness stand to talk about their communications with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office in a related state case that ended in Kerik’s guilty plea last year.
In court papers filed late Wednesday, Breen, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, called the feds’ actions “disturbing” and accused prosecutors of “tainting the jury pool and irreparably harming Mr. Kerik’s ability to obtain a fair trial.”