Release of Steve Levy non-prosecution agreement stayed by appeals court

A State appellate court has granted former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s request for a temporary delay in the release of his non-prosecution agreement to Newsday pending a hearing and final determination by a four-judge panel.

The decision will add at least a month and potentially more to release of the agreement that ended Levy’s political career and forced him to turn over his $4 million campaign war chest.

Levy has said release of the document would "devastate" his reputation.

Newsday and the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office have filed papers calling for its immediate release.

The agreement, though it contains no order that it be sealed, has never been made public.

In a one-page decision on Monday, four judges of the state Appellate Division gave Levy and other parties in the case until Sept. 22 to finalize their arguments.

The panel said the court could vacate the temporary delay within three days if Levy failed to file his completed appeal on or before Sept. 22.

The decision stems from a February Freedom of Information request by Newsday seeking the agreement between Levy and former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Spota since has been convicted of corruption charges stemming from the cover-up of the 2012 assault of prisoner Christopher Loeb by then-Police Chief James Burke. Spota and his former top aide are appealing their convictions and 5-year prison sentences.

In seeking release of Levy's non-prosecution agreement, Newsday argued that Levy himself opened the door to the release by speaking publicly about it to a Newsday opinion writer in 2020. Levy downplayed the allegations and said he regretted signing it.

Levy in late May filed suit anonymously against Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini’s office as it prepared to comply with the law and release the agreement to Newsday earlier that month.

A state Supreme Court justice ultimately sided with Sini's office and Newsday, and ordered the document released last month.

Levy appealed that decision, asking that the document be withheld until the appeal was heard and decided.

While Newsday’s initial request was for the March 2011 Levy-Spota agreement only, the Appellate Division panel on Monday also granted Levy's request to bar Sini’s office or anyone working on its behalf from disclosing the non-prosecution agreement and "any and all documents related to the investigation."

Newsday has since filed a second document request seeking all investigatory material in the case.

Newsday has also filed with the Appellate Division to intervene in the appeals case, citing the extreme public interest and the long delay in the disclosure.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.