An attorney and a local police chief are locked in dueling complaints resulting from an ongoing feud linked to an alleged Juneteenth parody party that made international headlines last year.
Nate McMurray, a Buffalo-based attorney, filed a counterclaim Tuesday against Irondequoit Police Chief Scott Peters, who had previously filed a defamation suit against McMurray.
Peters claimed McMurray tried to impede the town from hiring him as chief late last year by spreading a rumor, which Peters says is baseless, that he attended a racist pool party last July.
McMurray, meanwhile, claims Peters’ wife had threatened him to stay quiet, and cast Peters’ lawsuit as an intimidation tactic.
“The complaint is intended to silence a critic who has made assertions in the course
of public debate and in line with the obligation of an attorney to come forward, without fear, to address governmental improprieties,” Murray’s complaint reads.
Peters, a nearly 30-year veteran of the Rochester Police Department, filed his lawsuit in January, about a week and a half before he was sworn in as Irondequoit’s police chief.
In December, as news surfaced that the town planned to appoint Peters as the next police chief, McMurray sent an email to town attorney Megan Dorritie that accused Peters of attending what has been called a faux Juneteenth party hosted by socialites Mary Znidarsic-Nicosia and Nicholas Nicosia the previous July.
McMurray had filed a notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, against the city of Rochester on behalf of Jerrod Jones, a Black firefighter who was made to attend the party while on duty by his supervisor.
In that email, McMurray also accused Peters’ wife, Amy Andrews, of calling him from her work phone in the federal court system and threatening to “destroy him” if he didn’t stop speaking about Peters. McMurray said he filed a complaint with the New York State Attorney General’s Office following the call.
“As a former town supervisor myself, I would do anything in my power to stop the hiring of such a person if I was aware of his behavior, especially if I knew such behavior may very well become the part of a very public, pending court case,” the email reads. “You are now made aware. Please make your clients on the Town Board aware.”
In his lawsuit, Peters denied attending the party. He also accused McMurray of attempting to defame him on behalf of one of his other clients, Town Board member Patrina Freeman, who at the time was litigating a discrimination suit against the town. That case was dismissed in January.
McMurray, in a phone call Tuesday, stood by his statements.
“I will continue to vigorously defend my clients,” McMurray said. “I would ask Ms. Andrews why she called me in the first place. When she called me, I had no idea who she was.”
A message left for Peters’ lawyer, Jessica Gulla, seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Peters’ complaint acknowledged that Andrews did call McMurray but denied that she had threatened him. Instead, the lawsuit asserted, she called McMurray to offer him proof that Peters was not at the party. McMurray later posted on Twitter about the phone call.
Peters is seeking both punitive damages and compensation for defamation in the lawsuit.
In his counterclaim, McMurray’s lawyer Laine Armstrong denied most of the claims made by Peters and asked that his lawsuit be dismissed, and McMurray be awarded damages and attorney fees.
