MCNALLY SAYS DA'S OFFICE IN DISARRAY

Rensselaer County district attorney candidate backs drug laws reform

COLONIE -- The Democrat running for Rensselaer County district
attorney said the office is in disarray under the current
administration and inexperienced prosecutors are handling local court dockets.

"It is broken at levels they don't even know about," said Richard J.
McNally Jr., a former county prosecutor, public defender and current
county conflict defender. "Prosecution is not something you learn
overnight and the office needs to apply that fundamental concept with
leadership from top to bottom."

McNally of Valley Falls faces Republican Gregory Cholakis in
November. He made the comments to the Times Union editorial board recently.

District Attorney Patricia DeAngelis is not seeking re-election. Her
one term in the $119,600-a-year post has been a bumpy ride. She and
her office suffered several reversals on cases and DeAngelis has been
chastised by higher courts for courtroom antics and prosecutorial errors.

The Rockefeller-era drug laws need scrutiny, McNally said.

"The laws need to be changed because there is not enough flexibility
and more judicial discretion would be appropriate."

McNally steered clear of specifically targeting by name either
DeAngelis or Cholakis, who has worked in the county Public Defender
office for 14 years.

He did say the DA's office sometimes pushes for unrealistic
sentences, though he admitted there are no easy answers in dealing
with violent crime.

DeAngelis received some criticism for her role in the sentencing in
December 2004 of troubled teen Jon Romano to 20 years in prison for
discharging a shotgun three times inside Columbia High School,
injuring a special education teacher. There was evidence Romano was
emotionally unstable and some thought the sentence severe.

"There may have been some grandstanding there, though I'm not
familiar with all the aspects of that case," McNally said. "There is
a fine line between humane justice and legally allowable justice, but
at certain times as a prosecutor your duty is clear."

DeAngelis said she wants to stay out of the political fray and
declined to address McNally's points.

"When I chose not to run for a second term, I promised to stay out of
the political race to fill this seat and I will keep that promise
that I made to the people of this county," she said in a prepared statement.

McNally said he is in favor of the death penalty for cop killers and
terrorists.

"A law enforcement officer is as special a victim as you can get,"
McNally said. "But I struggle with the death penalty every day. It is
certainly something you cannot take lightly."

McNally, a 1987 graduate of St. John's University School of Law,
seeks to become the first Democrat to head the Rensselaer County
office in 15 years and the first Democrat elected to the post since
retired Supreme Court Justice James Canfield in 1989.

McNally has some prosecutorial experience. He served as first
assistant to Democrat Louis J. Catone, who lost to Republican Mary O.
Donohue in 1992. Catone was preceded by Canfield who won an
assignment to the state Supreme Court in 1991 leading to Catone's
short appointment.