Kindlon 'tackling' issues at Mosley hearing

Kindlon referenced the gridiron sport Tuesday in Rensselaer County Court, where the veteran defense attorney testified for prosecutors at a hearing involving Kindlon's ex-client, convicted double-murderer Michael Mosley.

The hearing is providing a rare glimpse into the minds of Kessler, a low-profile Cohoes-based lawyer for 26 years who does appellate work, and Kindlon, a lawyer of 42 years who is one of the most high-profile lawyers in the Capital Region.

Kessler's cross-examination of Kindlon has been a theater-of-the-absurd featuring nasty exchanges, Kessler's mention of a gun (in the stabbing case) and Kindlon's comparison of local attorneys to a football team.

"Would it be fair to say that you are one of the top criminal defense lawyers in New York state?" Kessler asked Kindlon.

In any case, the hearing will ultimately determine if Mosley, 45, will have a chance at a new trial or continue to serve a life sentence without parole for the January 2002 first-degree murders of Samuel "Frost" Holley, 27, and Arica Lynn Schneider, 18, in a Brunswick Road apartment.

Kessler made reference to the possibility of a gun being found at the crime scene early in the investigation — and grilled Kindlon for failing to follow up on it.

Kessler has argued that Kindlon failed to call former witnesses against initial murder suspects Terrence Battiste and Bryan Berry, most of whom were jailhouse informants whom Kindlon compared to sordid collection of seedy space characters at the Mos Eisley bar scene in the original "Star Wars."

"The mere fact that a jailhouse snitch never actually met or couldn't actually identify a criminal defendant against who he was offering to identity, it doesn't stop jailhouse snitches," Kindlon said.

At another point, Kessler implied that Kindlon should have tried harder to get Mosley's incriminating statements to police and on recorded phone calls blocked from the murder trial.