State prosecutors arrested a defense attorney after investigators say his actions put a cooperating witness in grave danger during a homicide case.
Attorney General Letitia James announced Dec. 30 that authorities indicted Jasper Mills, an Albany criminal defense attorney, for allegedly sharing confidential witness information in violation of a court order. Prosecutors say the disclosure led to threats and a violent attack on a cooperating witness inside a federal prison.
Mills, a former Albany County prosecutor, faces five charges, including intimidating a witness and tampering with a witness. Authorities arraigned him in Albany Supreme Court.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Mills represented a defendant in an ongoing gang-related murder case tied to the January 2021 killing of Shanita Thomas. Because of concerns about retaliation, a judge issued protective orders barring Mills from providing his client with documents that listed witness names or personal information.
Investigators allege Mills violated that order by sharing a witness list that identified two cooperating witnesses. Shortly after the list circulated, one of those witnesses was threatened by other inmates at a federal prison in Lake Placid and forced into protective custody.
State officials say the witness list later appeared on social media and in text messages, both bearing markings investigators traced back to Mills. Months later, the same cooperating witness was attacked again while in protective custody and slashed with a homemade weapon, requiring hospitalization.
Authorities also allege Mills delivered a hard drive to his client at the Albany County Correctional Facility that contained additional prohibited materials, including names and statements from eyewitnesses in the homicide case.
Mills faces charges of criminal contempt in the second degree, intimidating a witness in the first and second degrees, and tampering with a witness in the first and second degrees. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.
Attorney General James said witness intimidation undermines the justice system and puts lives at risk. State Police conducted the investigation, and the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau is handling the prosecution.
The charges are allegations, and Mills is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
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