Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that there is now a special prosecutor assigned to investigate potential bribery and bribe-receiving in the case of Harold Handy, the man who was beaten by multiple people at a party at the home of a Columbia County sheriff's deputy's in Kinderhook in 2020. A jury trial was scheduled in November for the four charged in the beating, but on that day Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka told former presiding Judge Richard Koweek in a private conference in the judge's chambers that he would request a special prosecutor. Then Koweek adjourned the trial until a conference was held last week. Special prosecutor, Thomas A. Capezza, was named at that hearing in front of state Supreme Court Judge Thomas Marcelle, as Koweek recused himself for reasons for a reason yet to be publicly declared. A text message was revealed at the hearing, allegedly sent by Paul Freeman, a Hudson lawyer who was representing Handy to Jim Hacker, a Troy-based personal injury lawyer. In the text Freeman tells Hacker $250,000 is not enough for Handy to drop his civil case against the four defendants, but "$900K will resolve it." Read more about this story in the Times Union.