NYS Attorney General's "Grand" Move

This past March, NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was authorized by Governor David Paterson to convene a grand jury into the activities of the NYS Police, which was rocked by a suicide of one of the high ranking officials last week.

The grand jury, which could bring charges against several current and former State Police officials, was the source of the subpoenas issued last month by Cuomo's office for e-mails and BlackBerry messages tied to Daniel Wiese, a onetime State Police colonel and now-suspended New York Power Authority inspector general.

The grand jury also was the source for the subpoena on Friday for the suicide note left Thursday by Gary Berwick, the former security chief for Govs. Eliot Spitzer and George Pataki and a Wiese protege, a source close to the NYPA said.

The source said an examination of the subpoena sent to the NYPA showed it originated with a grand jury under Cuomo's control.

Few in or out of state government realize that Gov. Paterson authorized the grand jury in late March.

Paterson sent Cuomo an extraordinary letter authorizing a probe of allegations that rogue State Police officials were involved in plots against state legislators, other politicians and, possibly, the governor himself.

The letter activated Section 63.3 of the state Executive Law, which says an attorney general - at the governor's request - can "investigate the alleged commission of any indictable offense," "prosecute the person or persons believed to have committed the same," and can do so by "presenting all such matters to a grand jury."

NYPA spokeswoman Christine Pritchard refused to identify the source of the subpoena sent to her office. It resulted in the revelation that Wiese's e-mails and other electronic records had mysteriously disappeared.

That's a pretty broad brush to conduct an investigation and gives Cuomo great latitude in searching for criminal activities leading to indictments. It's a good bet that indictments will follow as the team of attorneys and investigators is being headed up by Sharon McCarthy, the former deputy chief of the criminal division of the Southern District US Attorney's Office.