St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain says her office will appeal three court decisions recently made by Judge Jerome Richards.

Rain said the decision by Judge Richards to dismiss two indictments recently ignored the facts and wrongly applied the law.

“I find these dismissals, as well as Judge Richards’ decision last week to dismiss several counts of the indictment against Robert Petrie, a Macomb man accused of sexually assaulting a 12 year old child, deeply troubling,” she said in a released statement.

The two indictments dismissed by Judge Richards on Friday involved Joseph A. Back II, a man indicted for vehicular assault, and Gary Rousaw, a man indicted for sexually assaulting a 7- and an 8-year-old.

Rain said she spoke with the victims of these crimes. Rain says “they are outraged that the judge dismissed the indictments by discounting the facts provided by the District Attorney’s Office and only looking at those provided by the defense.”

“If there are facts in dispute, as there were in the indictments that were dismissed, a hearing is required so the judge may hear testimony. That was simply not done in these cases,” Rain said.

The Petrie decision provided inconsistencies where the judge ruled the grand jury testimony was insufficient to warrant charges, and in the same decision then provided they were sufficient. The judge, later in the week, amended his own decision.

Rain said, “In the Back case, Judge Richards relied on the statement of defense counsel that the Tribal Police had arrested the defendant, and ruled that the Tribal Police had no right to do so. However, the People stated the defendant was not placed under arrest, but rather detained as a fleeing felon, and NY law allows any citizen in this state to detain a fleeing felon until the police arrive. Without having sworn testimony by holding a hearing the judge only relied on the statement of the defense attorney.”

Additionally, in the Rousaw case, Judge Richards ruled that a speedy trial waiver signed by the defendant’s attorney with a copy provided to the defendant was an insufficient waiver. “This flies in the face of well settled case law that allows the defense attorney to do just that so they may have time to negotiate with the District Attorney’s Office before the case is presented to Grand Jury,” Rain stated.

“These decisions make no sense and simply fail to follow New York Law” Rain said. “The People will appeal these decisions. “I believe that Judge Richards has inappropriately dismissed cases, and when he does so by not following the law or allowing the District Attorney’s Office to be heard, my office will relentlessly fight to protect the rights of victims by appealing his decisions.”

Rain also included the following background on the three cases:

• Gary Rousaw, 55, of Massena was indicted on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. It is alleged that on Dec. 7, he had sexual contact with a 7-year-old and 8-year-old at his residence.

• Joseph A. Back II, 54, of Hogansburg was indicted for first- and second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, first- and second-degree vehicular assault, aggravated DWI (misdemeanor) and DWI (two counts, misdemeanors). It’s alleged that on March 27, while driving with a blood alcohol content of .26 while on state Route 37 in Massena, Back ran into the rear of one vehicle and while fleeing that scene went head-on into another vehicle causing that driver life-threatening injuries.

• Robert M. Petrie Jr. 44, of Macomb was indicted on multiple counts of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old at his home.