Onondaga Country District Attorney William Fitzpatrick deemed Syracuse University’s decision to fire Bernie Fine ‘very appropriate’ in the wake of molestation allegations against the SU associate head basketball coach.

Eleven days after the allegations of Bobby Davis, 39, and Mike Lang, 45, were made public by ESPN, university Chancellor Nancy Cantor made the decision to fire Fine.

The decision was made on the same day that a third accuser, Zach Tomaselli, 23, came forward Sunday after making a sworn statement to Syracuse police, and an audio recording of a phone conversation between Davis and Fine’s wife, Laurie, indicated that she knew about the molestations.

In 2005, SU conducted its own investigation of claims made by Davis, and Fitzpatrick previously said SU shared those results with him.

‘I don’t want to speak for the university, but my contact with them has been very open and very professional,’ Fitzpatrick said after Fine’s dismissal. ‘And I think they recognized the gravity of it, and I think their reaction today was very appropriate.’

Fitzpatrick added he wasn’t surprised Fine was fired and said the likelihood of Fine ever being exonerated is ‘not very good.’

Fitzpatrick’s immediate future in the investigation of the allegations will be determined Tuesday in court. New York Supreme Court Justice James Murphy will decide whether SPD needs to comply with a grand jury subpoena, acquired by Fitzpatrick. The subpoena requires Syracuse police to turn over any files it has from 2002 onward involving allegations against Fine.

Fitzpatrick identified three tracks that need to be investigated regarding the allegations. He plans to look into what happened back in 2002, when Davis first brought his allegations to Syracuse police; whether Davis is telling the truth in his claims against Fine; and determining whether there are any other victims.

But what continually angers Fitzpatrick is the lack of cooperation he has received from Syracuse police. He is adamant that the Syracuse Police Department is leaking information to the media, specifically The Post-Standard.

‘The DA is trying to get files from the police department. The police department goes to the U.S. attorney’s office because they want to share information with the U.S. attorney but not with the DA,’ Fitzpatrick said. ‘But they don’t want things, according to the mayor’s edict, to come out piecemeal. And yet every time I pick up the paper, I find another report, affidavit, search warrant — whatever it is — leaked to the media.’

The Post-Standard published a story Sunday identifying Tomaselli as a third accuser. The article referenced portions of Tomaselli’s sworn affidavit, given to authorities Wednesday afternoon in Albany.

The article says that Rose Ryan, a friend of Tomaselli’s, was with Tomaselli when a detective read his statement aloud. She later shared the content of the statement with The Post-Standard, according to the article.

And it was this information — the information from Tomaselli’s affidavit that didn’t sit well with Fitzpatrick.

‘In my opinion, that story is fictitious. I think somebody leaked the affidavit and that the reporter is using that as a cover story to deflect blame or deflect suspicion from the leaker,’ Fitzpatrick said. ‘There is no way that somebody overheard an affidavit being dictated and then relayed it days later in such detail to a reporter.’

Michael Connor, executive editor for The Post-Standard, responded to Fitzpatrick’s claims via an email to The Daily Orange.

‘The story was quite straightforward,’ Connor said in the email. ‘Beyond that, we will not respond to speculations about our news-gathering that were not shared directly with us.’

Fitzpatrick is adamant that SPD is leaking files. And after Murphy’s ruling on Tuesday, he hopes the dispute between the DA’s office and Syracuse police will become irrelevant, assuming Murphy rules in his favor and forces SPD to turn over its files.

‘I have no doubt that the stuff is being leaked by the Syracuse Police Department,’ Fitzpatrick added. ‘ … I feel like I should say to the judge on Tuesday, ‘You know, your honor, I withdraw my subpoena. But I renew my subscription to The Post-Standard.”

mjcohe02@syr.edu 

Published on November 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13