MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A veteran police officer who was indicted on charges he ran a $6,000-per-day gambling ring out of Staten Island storefronts was briefly brought into a Manhattan courtroom Monday morning during at the trial of an alleged drug dealer.
Det. Richard Palase, 46, who has been placed on modified duty pending the outcome of his case in Brooklyn Federal Court, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom Monday for a brief line of questioning outside of the jury's presence in the trial of Alshon Williams, an accused drug dealer who Palase helped arrest.
Last week, Palase's previously concealed role in the case was a point of contention at Williams' trial when the defense lawyer called for a mistrial and accused prosecutors of withholding evidence from the defense and from jurors.
It was not until after the last witness at the week-long trial testified that prosecutors revealed Palase was a "ghost" in the undercover arrest of Williams, 38, who allegedly sold cocaine to a police officer at his West 148th Street apartment on Nov. 9, 2010.
Prosecutors said Palase acted as the lookout while other officers made the drug deal with Williams and then arrested him as walked down the block following the purported sale.
After Palase's arrest in June, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor had revealed Palase's role in "Operation Ivy League," an investigation that resulted in the indictment of five Columbia University students on charges they sold narcotics on campus and in their fraternity houses.
Palase, appearing Monday by order of a subpoena, told the court he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights if called to testify by Williams' attorney, Robert Georges, who ultimately decided not to put Palase in front of the jury. He would not have been permitted to ask him about his federal indictment.
Dressed in an NYPD uniform sweater and dress slacks, Palase gave brief one or two word answers to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Roger Hayes, who ruled that prosecutors were not legally bound to call him as a witness.
He told the judge that "yes" he had no memory of the Williams arrest and that "yes" he would plead the Fifth if forced to take the witness stand.
The judge said on Monday he would not issue what's called a "missing witness" charge to jurors, which would instruct them that they're free to speculate as to why prosecutors did not want to call him to the stand.
In summations and in arguments, defense attorney Georges told jurors that the absence of Palase's testimony left holes in the prosecution's case.
"The jury is totally being misled as to this witness," Georges argued.
"I wouldn't say I couldn't disagree with you more. I disagree with you," Hayes said, in ruling against a mistrial and a formal missing witness charge.
But Georges told the jury that the absence of Palase, known to them as "Undercover 0015" in trial testimony, among other things, meant they could not convict his client.
"There are too many questions to go into a jury room and say [there is] is proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Georges said.
At the end of the court day Monday after an hour or two of deliberations, jurors said they could not reach a verdict, but they were ordered to return Tuesday to continue their discussions.
