RIVERHEAD – A husband may not defend his wife and law partner against grand larceny and forgery charges due to potential financial and emotional conflicts of interest, not the least of which is that he could be called as a prosecution witness, ruled Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen L. Braslow.
Prosecutors allege in Allen v. Allen, 576-02, that Jessica Allen endorsed a $32,000 check by signing her name and that of her husband, Scott Allen, and kept the money even after the bank issuing the check reported it had done so in error. The Allens practice law together from their house in Manorville, and the check resulted from an aborted refinancing of their mortgage. (The decision is published in today’s Law Journal.)
