Effie Blassberger and Thomas Rotko secured the complete dismissal of an indictment charging a successful attorney with sex abuse in the first degree, a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Brought in as new counsel after the indictment, Blassberger and Rotko conducted an extensive independent investigation that uncovered material misrepresentations made by the complainant to the district attorney’s office.

When the prosecution refused to identify the complainant’s outcry witnesses pursuant to CPL 245.20(1)(c), Blassberger and Rotko worked to identify those witnesses through a meticulous review of cell phone records. They then issued subpoenas seeking the witnesses’ communications with the complainant, which revealed additional inconsistencies and false statements made to prosecutors.

Among the evidence uncovered were communications in which the complainant instructed a witness regarding what to say and what to omit in conversations with prosecutors — conduct that Blassberger and Rotko argued constituted witness tampering.

After being presented with this evidence, the District Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss the case in its entirety.