New York County Lawyers Association Statement on Recent DOJ Resignations Related to the Dropped Prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams

New York, New York – The New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) The Department of Justice’s dropped prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams continues to claim innocent victims in the Department. Three career Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Southern District of New York, Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrback, and Derek Wikstrom, resigned this week. They were previously placed on “administrative leave” for refusing an order to move to dismiss Mayor Adams’ indictment. This week they resigned, saying that to be reinstated they were required to “express regret and admit some wrongdoing” but that they “will not confess wrongdoing when there was none.” They also stressed the importance to the courts, defendants, the Department of Justice, and the general public of having independent career prosecutors willing and able to uphold the Constitution, laws of the United States, and the rules of professional ethics.

The three prosecutors’ resignation letter reinforces the conclusion of the Honorable Dale Ho, that the Department of Justice’s explanation for the dismissal of the charges against Mayor Adams was “pretextual” and “smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”

This continues to be a shameful episode in our federal criminal justice system.

About the New York County Lawyers Association
The New York County Lawyers Association (www.nycla.org) was founded in 1908 as one of the first major bar associations in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

# # #