SCHENECTADY — A panel that investigates misconduct allegations against attorneys is looking into accusations that a Schenectady County public defender was involved in an intimate relationship with a criminal defendant while she was representing him in a pending City Court case, according to court paperwork filed by the woman’s boss.
A motion filed earlier this month by Schenectady County Public Defender Steve Signore seeking to have his office taken off the misdemeanor case against defendant Richard J. Jack III states that senior assistant public defender Michelle Walton “had an intimate relationship with the defendant during her representation of him (Jack), which became the subject of the 3rd party complaint to the NYS Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department’s Attorney Grievance Committee.”
“Upon information and belief, the complaint involved facts of the relationship, facts which now involve further investigation by the committee, and which potentially create an adversarial relationship between Ms. Walton and her client,” Signore wrote in the two-page document dated Dec. 1…