Sharing of sealed records at NYPD press conference with NYC Mayor Adams was illegal, Manhattan judge rules

An August press conference by Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell violated the law when sealed criminal records were blasted to the press during, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled Thursday.

Officials at the Aug. 3 briefing at Police Headquarters tried to highlight recidivism in the criminal justice system. The event came as Adams was railing against Albany’s controversial bail reforms.

Standing alongside Adams and Sewell, NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri cited hundreds of sealed arrests of 10 New Yorkers, creating “a frenzy of speculation around their identities,” the Bronx Defenders said in their filing against the city.

Without saying their names, Lipetri laid out each individual’s arrest history, including numbers and types of arrests during the conference, info that was transcribed and posted on an official city website.

“The court in this motion is asked to determine whether the public dissemination of sealed arrest information by certain New York City officials … was in violation of the sealing statutes and this court’s prior preliminary injunction,” Justice Lyle Frank wrote in the ruling dated Thursday. “This court finds that it was.”

A NYPD spokesperson said the department is reviewing the order. Adams’ office and the city Law Department did not immediately return requests for comment.

Asked at the August press conference whether the names would be released, Adams said, “Trust me, I want to.”

“Sometimes I don’t know why we hire lawyers. They said we can’t show the name and faces, so I have to abide by the rules,” he told reporters. “But people in the public need to see the names and faces of these individuals who are repeatedly creating violence in our community.”

Still, in the days following the press conference, numerous news articles were published identifying the people shamed during the presser, whom Lipetri dubbed “the worst of the worst.”

The defendants, who used pseudonyms in court filings, charge that their records were released with the intention to “publicly smear [their] reputations” — violating city law barring the contents of sealed records from being released.

Thursday’s ruling came as the Bronx Defenders have been pursuing a class action suit against the city aimed at making sure the NYPD doesn’t access sealed arrest records without a judge’s explicit approval. A judge previously granted an injunction against the NYPD saying it had to follow that protocol while the suit plays out.

Officials at the August press conference may have believed they were adhering to the injunction, Frank wrote in his ruling, which did not impose any sanction on the NYPD or the city.

Bronx Defenders senior attorney Niji Jain says the release of sealed records could put millions of New Yorkers with arrest records in danger.

“The NYPD and City Hall cannot access sealed arrest information, especially to smear people’s reputations by sharing sealed records with the press,” Jain said Thursday. “The court’s order makes clear that the city must end its unlawful practice of providing the press with information on sealed arrest records.”

With Chris Sommerfeldt