2002 - Tyrone Johnson. In his last trial, on June 4, 2002, Stuart lied to Judge Jaime A. Rios in People v. Johnson. Stuart told Justice Rios that he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of a witness whose statements the defense  maintained were exculpatory. When in fact, Stuart did know the witness' whereabouts and had met with her on May 31, 2002 at her job. Who will prosecute the corrupt prosecutors?

After Johnson's conviction the Queens DA's office issued the following press release:

"Thursday, June 6, 2002 

JAMAICA MAN CONVICTED AFTER JURY TRIAL OF MURDER IN SHOOTING DEATH OF ACQUAINTANCE

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Jamaica man has been found guilty after a jury trial of murder in the February 2000 shooting death of a 50-year-old acquaintance.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Tyrone Johnson, 25, of 153-15 122nd Avenue, Jamaica. The defendant was convicted of Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Robbery in the First and Second Degrees and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second and Third Degrees by a jury of five men and seven women which deliberated 4 ½ hours before Queens Supreme Court Justice Jaime A. Rios. The defendant is expected to be sentenced on July 9, 2002.

District Attorney Brown said, "A jury of the defendant’s peers has found the defendant guilty of intentionally causing the death of an acquaintance by shooting him with a handgun. The defendant violently ended another person’s life and he must now be held accountable and punished for his lethal conduct."

According to the trial testimony, the defendant and an accomplice, who was not apprehended, both armed with guns, approached the victim early on February 5, 2000 and demanded the keys to the victim's automobile, a Jaguar. The victim refused and was then thrown against the parked car. When the attackers attempted to handcuff the victim, their weapons discharged, and one bullet struck the victim in the chest, mortally wounding him. The victim managed to tell his mother and others his attacker’s name and the defendant was arrested two weeks later.

Assistant District Attorney Claude N. Stuart of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Daniel Saunders, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Gregory L. Lasak."

Missing from this press release is the fact that the conviction was obtained through Stuart's serial prosecutorial misconduct that, if not condoned by the office, had been tolerated since at least 1998. Stuart's lies were finally so blatantly obvious that the Queens DA agreed to a new trial, saving the defense the need to appeal to overturn the conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct. 

Stuart lost his job in 2002 and had his NY license to practice law suspended in 2005 for three years, his NJ law license was suspended for three months in 2007, and his DC law license was suspended for three years in 2008. 

Having done such a great job at supervising Claude Stuart, Gregory Lasak with the help of the Queens Machine was elected State Supreme Court justice at the end of 2002. Mr. Murder. He is now a candidate  for Queens District Attorney. Claude Stuart became director for "a charity set up by State Senator Malcolm A. Smith and United States Representative Gregory W. Meeks." Yes, this is the U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks who is the new Queens boss. See "New Boss, Same Broken Machine" section below. "Stuart was placed on the Senate payroll by Mr. Smith in 2002 shortly after he lost his job as a Queens prosecutor for lying to a judge."  Figure Under Scrutiny in Inquiry Into Charity Was on Senate Payroll, NYTimes.