Soares defends case on steroids

An Albany judge has been asked to forge ahead by prosecutors with a criminal trial for five Florida pharmacy operators accused of being at the center of an alleged illegal steroids business. The steroids case drew national interest in 2007 but has since then brought attacks on office of the Albany County district attorney.

The remaining criminal case targeting the pharmacist-owners of Orlando's former Signature Compounding Pharmacy has been languished for three years and exposed illegal steroid use by professional athletes and others.

From Timesunion.com:

More than 15 people, including doctors and business owners, pleaded guilty to related drug charges in a case that exposed systemic abuse of prescription drug laws. But the case against the pharmacists and their managers, who were also targets of a related federal criminal investigation, has thrust a spotlight on District Attorney David Soares' decision to indict operators of a faraway company that did a small percentage of its multi-million-dollar business in New York state and Albany County.

Two years ago an Albany County judge threw out the first indictment against the pharmacy's operators, citing prosecutorial missteps in the grand jury proceedings. A month later, the pharmacists fought back with a federal civil rights lawsuit in Florida seeking millions of dollars in damages for false arrest and malicious prosecution. They sued Soares, an assistant district attorney, the Orlando Police Department and other law enforcement officials.

But their criminal case in New York was not over. Earlier this year a state appellate court reversed a portion of the county judge's dismissal order that barred prosecutors from bringing a new indictment, which they did in June.

Soares not only participated in, but also directed the Assistant District attorney and others for violating plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful arrests.