Indictment reinstated in elderly hate crime case - Albany Times Union

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Frank A. Chrysler. (New York State Police)

ALBANY – A mid-level state appeals court has reinstated criminal charges against a Watervliet man accused in a crime spree that preyed on elderly residents who overpaid thousands of dollars for shoddy home repair services.

In a ruling released Thursday, the Appellate Division in Albany ruled that a Supreme Court judge improperly dismissed the indictment of Frank Chrysler on the basis that Albany County prosecutors had failed to meet trial-readiness deadlines.

Prosecutors typically have up to six months to declare their readiness for trial in a felony case, with some time exclusions. Chrysler was arrested in November 2014 and indicted with five co-defendants in April 2015. Prosecutors announced five days later they were ready for trial.

But the delay between his arrest and the unveiling of the grand jury indictment amounted to 163 days of delay, which a judge ruled accounted for five months of the trial-readiness clock.

The appellate panel said acting Supreme Court Justice Roger D. McDonough then miscalculated the trial-readiness clock by charging the prosecution with an additional 27 days when Chrysler's co-defendants had motions pending.

The ruling noted that in cases involving a single defendant delays when motions are pending are not chargeable to the prosecutorial readiness clock. The same rules apply in cases involving multiple co-defendants.

"A defendant's remedy for delays caused by co-defendants in a joint prosecution is to move for severance," stated the decision written by Judge Elizabeth Garry. "Here, although defendant was represented by counsel throughout the pertinent period, he neither moved for severance at any time nor showed that good cause for severance existed."

An attorney for Chrysler, who was arrested again in Saratoga County in April 2016 on unrelated charges, could not immediately be reached. Cecilia Walsh, a spokeswoman for the Albany County District Attorney's Office, said they "are gratified by the court's decision and will now proceed with the pending prosecution that we started after the initial investigation, arrest, and subsequent indictment of Mr. Chrysler for his alleged crimes."

Six defendants arrested in the case have pleaded guilty.

Two years ago, District Attorney David Soares called the home-repair scheme a "ring of hate crimes" that targeted the elderly. Five defendants pleaded guilty to hate-crime charges. A sixth pleaded guilty to grand larceny without the hate crime provision.

mhamilton@timesunion.com • 518-454-5449 • @matt_hamilton10

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