A special prosecutor has been overseeing the case of Susan Rice, the girlfriend of former Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski.
There have been questions about whether the prosecutor is also looking into possible criminal violations by Zikuski himself.
Rice was charged with several crimes after punching a 16-year-old neighbor in July. Zikuski was present but off-duty and did not intervene.
An independent investigation concluded that he violated many city and police policies.
John Muehl is the special prosecutor in Rice’s case. As for Zikuski, he says “that is not my job.”
“I’ve not been asked to do that. Nobody’s authorized me to do that. I’m not doing that,” Muehl recently told WSKG.
The Otsego County District Attorney said the independent investigation report into Zikuski was shared with him for one specific reason: prosecutors are required by New York State law to turn over certain information to defense attorneys. That pre-trial process is called discovery.
“I’ve looked at that report and I’ve determined, I did not violate, his getting rid of stuff did not cause me to violate any of my discovery obligations,” Muehl said. “And that’s all I care about.”
That does not mean a special prosecutor could not be appointed to investigate Zikuski. Muehl said there are two ways a special prosecutor could investigate him. Either Broome County District Attorney Paul Battisti requests a new investigation or Zikuski is arrested for some reason that triggers an investigation.
The Binghamton City Council has asked for a full investigation into possible wrongdoing by the former chief. They unanimously passed a resolution last month asking for the district attorney, the state attorney general and others to look into “potential criminal or professional misconduct including any violations of state law regarding tampering with public records, obstruction of governmental administration or misuse of public resources.”