Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announces that State Supreme Court Justice Gerald Greenan, III, denied an Article 78 petition filed by the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Western District of New York, which sought to compel the release of records in the People v. Payton Gendron. In a decision issued yesterday, Judge Greenan granted the People’s motion to dismiss and denied the petition.
Last February, the Federal Public Defender’s Office submitted a Freedom of Information Law request to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office in an attempt to obtain discovery materials in the adjudicated case. Gendron is currently serving a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole following his guilty plea to all counts of the indictment in the case prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office. Our office denied the FOIL request, citing both state and federal protective orders prohibiting the disclosure of records as well as an exemption under Public Officer Law. The Federal Public Defender’s Office then filed an Article 78 petition, requesting that the Court compel the disclosure of the records.
In July 2022, Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan, who presided over the state criminal case, issued a protective order governing all discovery materials produced by the People. The order states that the records must only be disclosed to defense counsel, and that “these materials and their contents shall not be disseminated or shared with any other person, except for [District Attorney’s] office support staff, attorneys, investigators or experts working with defense counsel on this case, at any time.” Further, this order mandates non-compliance as enforceable as criminal contempt under New York State Penal Law. The Court determined that despite the closure of the case, the state protective order remains a valid judicial mandate unless it is modified or vacated by the issuing court.
The Court agreed that the records sought by the petitioner are not subject to disclosure under Freedom of Information Law as the materials are directly implicated in an active federal capital prosecution. Public Officers Law, Section 87, authorizes an agency to deny access to records compiled for law enforcement purposes where disclosure would “interfere with judicial proceedings."
Additionally, United States District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, who is overseeing United States v. Payton Gendron in the District Court for the Western District of New York, issued a protective order governing all discovery material in the federal case. Therefore, the Court denied the petition seeking the release of the records under FOIL.
“I am pleased that the Court upheld our office’s determination by denying this Article 78 petition. Transparency is a fundamental principle of our justice system, but we must carefully balance our obligations under Freedom of Information Law while abiding by court orders, protecting the integrity of investigations, safeguarding victims and witnesses, and ensuring fair due process for the accused,” said Erie County DA Mike Keane.
The motion to dismiss the Article 78 was successfully argued by Assistant District Attorney April J. Orlowski of the Appeals Bureau.