Disbarred attorney locked up

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Disgraced former prosecutor Anne Adams is going to jail. Disbarred attorney and former prosecutor Anne Adams, who had aspired to become a State Supreme Court Justice, had hoped to avoid jail time after admitting she deliberately tried to mislead investigators with a day late blood sample after her DWI arrest in Hamburg.

"She is profoundly ashamed and rightfully so," said her attorney James Harrington.

Ashamed, too, because she brought down a State Supreme Court Justice, Joseph Makowski, who admitted he had lied, saying Anne Adams did not appear drunk before she was arrested on September 2.  Makowski was with her that night. He has since resigned.

Prosecutor Beth Solek said, "Ms. Adams then made the deliberate choice to engage in a cover-up, and that's what makes this case so unusual and so troubling."

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Michael Griffith, who was brought in from Wyoming County to pass sentencing, called Adam's behavior shameful and embarrassing, and said she would have to be placed behind bars.

Michael Griffith, Acting State Supreme Court Justice, said, "I do not do this lightly. I am going to sentence you to fifteen days in jail, effective today."

"She no longer can be a lawyer, she no longer has a livelihood. She lost her job at the University. She's been publically humiliated, and on top of that, she's going to go to jail," said Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita.

Anne Adams must also write letters of apology to the legal community and the arresting officer. After the jail sentence was imposed, she told her attorney Jim Harrington, "I won't be alive. I won't be alive."

She is a high profile inmate who was a former prosecutor. Coming up on News 4 at 5 and 6, Rich Newberg talks with Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard about how high profile inmates are housed in jail.
 

Part of a letter Anne Adams wrote to the judge states:

“I hatched a selfish and reprehensible scheme subverting everything I hold sacred in the law.  My actions were inexcusable.”

-Anne Adams