DeStefano Files Motion Calling for Sanctions for his Former Attorney and Borkowski
Andrew DeStefano, a Patterson resident and a former candidate for Putnam County sheriff, has filed a motion calling for the New York State Supreme Court to sanction Pat Bonanno, previously DeStefano’s attorney, and Jim Borkowski, DeStefano’s opponent in the 2009 Republican primary in the sheriff’s race.
The motion accuses Borkowski and Bonanno of making false statements in a Sept. 14, 2009 court appearance in which Borkowski tried to get DeStefano off the ballot. During the hearing, Bonanno and Borkowski said DeStefano moved out of Putnam, making him ineligible to hold the office of sheriff. On Sept. 9, 2009, DeStefano had submitted a letter saying he was “immediately relocating” out of Putnam. This letter was the basis of Borkowski and Bonanno’s testimony. In his motion, filed Dec. 9 of this year, DeStefano says the letter was false, saying Bonanno told him to submit it to avoid prosecution for filing fraudulent signatures.
DeStefano, represented by Philip Marin, says in the motion that Bonanno knew DeStefano’s letter was false. He also said Borkowski mischaracterized the letter by saying DeStefano had already moved while the letter is written in the future tense. Borkowski countered that the letter said he was moving immediately and had been submitted five days prior to the court hearing.
In the motion, DeStefano says Bonanno had been representing Borkowski’s interests rather than DeStefano’s. Calls to Bonanno Friday were not returned. In a previous conversation, Bonanno said, “I represented him zealously as a criminal defense attorney.”
In the hearing, Borkowski had sought to get DeStefano out of the Republican primary and set up a one-on-one between himself and Sheriff Don Smith. He was unable to, and Smith went on to win the primary and later the general election. Less than a month later, DeStefano admitted to filing petitions with fraudulent signatures for a third-party line and pled guilty to offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree and a violation of New York State Election Law Section 17- 122(7),
Borkowski called DeStefano’s claims “revisionist history.”
“Rather than being grateful that he got off so lightly, Capt. DeStefano seeks revenge by blaming everyone else but himself,” Borkowski said in an e-mail. “He should count himself lucky and move on with his life.”
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.