Teen charged with hate crime fights to replace lawyer

A learning-disabled Lakeview teenager charged with a hate crime late last year is fighting his way through the court system, starting with replacing his own lawyer.

Distrust is at the heart of 16-year-old Chase Morrison’s push to replace his court-appointed counsel, Geoffrey Prime, who was assigned to him after he successfully petitioned the courts to get rid of his first lawyer.

“One of the biggest issues is Prime, like the previous attorney, has no experience with someone with low I.Q.,” said Cay Fatima, Morrison’s legal advocate. “For example, Prime used the word — what we would think of as a very simple word — neutral. The defendant didn’t know what the word meant.”

Police charged Morrison and two other teens with a hate crime in October 2010 after they allegedly assaulted a 14-year-old boy and hurled anti-gay slurs at him during a bus ride home from a Hicksville BOCES school. Morrison was also indicted on additional robbery charges.

According to Fatima, Morrison’s inability to understand, much less relate to, his attorney poses a significant threat to his case. Facing felony charges that could send him to prison for several years, Morrison needs a lawyer with expertise in representing those with developmental delays, Fatima said, adding, “Only a select few have great expertise in the field.” She has found one of those select few and is working to help Morrison convince a judge to remove Prime and assign the new lawyer.

But Prime, a former Nassau County assistant district attorney and the current mayor of South Floral Park, wants to continue representing Morrison.

“I feel that I am definitely qualified to handle this case,” he recently told the Herald, adding that lawyers are usually only reassigned in cases where there is a significant conflict between the counsel and the client.

Fatima said there is a conflict in this case: Prime is unable to relate to his client. Additionally, Fatima claims Prime has to “play catch up” and is at a disadvantage in his motion and trial preparation as a result of failures by Morrison’s first lawyer, Christian Browne, to obtain investigative work and expert information. She fears the potential consequences of inadequate representation: her concern is not just jail time, but a lifetime of legal troubles.

“Experts feel [the learning disabled] population will more than likely give self-incriminating statements,” Fatima said, “and, once in the criminal system as a juvenile, will probably be on a fast track to adult prisons and years of repeat incarceration.”

Fatima went on to cite the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims that clients of public defenders lacking necessary resources are often wrongfully convicted, plead guilty when they should not and spend too much time in jail or prison.

To combat this problem as it relates to the learning or developmentally disabled, federal and state law requires modification of practices, procedures and policies in all areas of the criminal justice system — including court-appointed lawyers, according to Fatima, who is herself considered a “reasonable accommodation” under the law. She sees no reason why a judge would not permit Morrison to replace his representation.

“Trust is the primary component in the attorney-client relationship,” Fatima said. “Indigent defendants’ hands are somewhat tied because they have to get permission to ‘fire’ their lawyer even when there is gross neglect.”

Morrison faces a slew of charges in both the alleged hate crime and robbery cases. Among charges are third-degree assault as a hate crime and fourth-degree grand larceny — both E felonies — two counts of aggravated harassment and first-, second- and third-degree robbery — B, C and D felonies, respectively.

Morrison was last in court for a conference on May 9. He and Fatima are still working to replace Prime.