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Dept. of Media Services
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January 31, 2008 

2008 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AWARD RECIPIENTS HONORED

 NEW YORK – The New York State Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section will present its annual Awards for Outstanding Achievement today at 12:30 p.m. at the Upper Terrace and Marquis C, 9^th Floor of the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan. Norman P. Effman of Buffalo(Attica Legal Aid) will present this year’s awards.   Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and Dennis Delano and the Bike Path Rapist Investigation Team are among this year’s honorees.

Award categories and recipients are:

• The Michele S. Maxian Award for Outstanding Public Defense Practitioner: Lisa Schreibersdorf, Brooklyn Defender Services, Brooklyn .   Schreibersdorf is the Executive Director of Brooklyn Defender Services.  She has spent 18 years representing poor people accused of crimes in Brooklyn .  She serves as the liaison from her office to the criminal justice system on such matters as drug court planning and domestic violence policy.
  
• The Charles F. Crimi Memorial Award for Outstanding Private Defense Practitioner: Stephen P. Scaring, Stephen P. Scaring P.C., Garden City.  Scaring has been engaged in the private practice of law since 1977, specializing in criminal law and white collar criminal matters.  He has been selected by the New York Times to its top 100 list of Super Lawyers in the New York Metropolitan area.
  
• The Vincent E. Doyle Jr. Award for Outstanding Jurist: Honorable Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge of the State of New York , New YorkCity.  Kaye is the first woman to occupy the State Judiciary's highest office and was the first woman to serve on New York State's highest court when Governor Cuomo appointed her Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals in September 1983.  She has spearheaded many groundbreaking initiatives that have greatly improved the New York State Court system.  A champion for justice, Kaye is highly regarded for her innovation and judicial intellect. 
  
• The David S. Michaels Memorial Award for Courageous Efforts in Promoting Integrity in the Criminal Justice System: James B. Comey, Esq., Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, Maryland.  Comey was Deputy Attorney General of the United Statesfrom 2003 through 2005.  Comey’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2007 advocated for the Justice Department to work as a nonpartisan unit and contradicted the testimony of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. 
  
• The Outstanding Prosecutor: Patrick J. McCormack, Jr., Esq., Counsel to the Nassau County District Attorney, Mineola .  McCormack has served Nassau Countymore than thirty years and is retiring today.
  
• Outstanding Contribution to Police Work: Detective Robert Addolorato, Retired, New York City Police Department, Kings Park; Detective John Schwartz, Retired, New York City Police Department , Kentucky ; Steven M. Cohen, Esq., then Partner of Cooley, Godward and Kronish, LLP, former U.S. Assistant Attorney of the Southern District of New York, and now Counselor and Chief of Staff for the New York State Office of the Attorney General, New York City.  Addolorato, Schwartz and Cohen dedicated themselves to overturn the wrongful murder convictions of David Lemus and Olmedo Hidalgo.  Their collective efforts led to Lemus’ and Hidalgo’s acquittal of murder charges in 2005.  Lemus was found not guilty in his December 2007 retrial.
  
• Outstanding Contribution to Police Work: Detective Dennis Delano and the Bike Path Rapist Investigation Team, Buffalo Police Department, Homicide Cold Case Unit, Buffalo.  Delanoand his team tirelessly worked to overturn wrongfully convicted Anthony Capozzi’s prison sentence for rape charges.   DNA evidence matched Altemio Sanchez to the rapes.  Capozzi was released from prison in March 2007 after serving 22 years. Sanchez pled guilty to the murders of three women and admitted to raping at least 11 other women.

Jean T. Walsh of Beechhurst chairs the 1,550-member section.

The 74,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official statewide organization of lawyers in New Yorkand the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation.

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