Following the grand jury hearing, the Office of the Attorney General charges Abelove with felony perjury and two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct. 1
The first misdemeanor count charges that Abelove withheld evidence from the Thevenin grand jury about witness statements that contradicted French’s account.
The second misconduct count accuses Abelove of unlawfully allowing Sergeant French to testify with immunity. The perjury charge alleges that Abelove lied to a special grand jury investigating his conduct when he testified that his treatment of Sergeant French was standard because he treated another Troy police officer similarly.
A Columbia County judge, Jonathan Nichols, later dismisses the charges against Abelove; the dismissal was reversed, and the charges reinstated in November of 2019. These charges were then brought before Judge Nichols in a non-juried trial at Rensselaer County Court in September 2020.