Originally Posted - July 20, 2006

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ALBANY---Charges against Sen. Ada Smith, accused of assaulting a former staff member, have been reduced to a non-criminal violation of second degree harassment.

A misdemeanor assault charge was lodged against Smith, 61, earlier this year on complaint of former aide Jennifer Jackson, 41, who says that Smith threw a cup of hot coffee on her and pulled her hair after Jackson made a comment about Smith's weight. Jackson has also claimed that Smith threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident.

Jackson was treated at St. Peter's Hospital after complaining of eye, neck and back injuries.

However, prosecutors say that after talking to doctors who treated Jackson, there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute Smith for assault.

Smith, 61, a nine-term Queens Democrat, has pleaded not guilty to the harassment charge which carries a penalty if convicted of up to 15 days in jail and/or a $250 fine.

In May, she turned down a deal offered by the Albany County district attorney's office that would have required her to take anger management classes, pay a $1,000 fine in return to pleading guilty to third degree assault.

Following her arrest, Smith was stripped of a $9,500 annual stipend and the use of a state car due to her "consistent pattern of inappropriate conduct".

In 2004, Smith was fined $200 in Albany City Court for failing to obey a direct order from a police officer after it was alleged that she had refused to show her government ID card and drove through a security checkpoint at a parking garage at the Empire State Plaza.

Last year she was cleared of any wrongdoing by the state Division of Human Rights after her ex-chief of staff claimed that she made racist remarks and fired him because he's gay.

Another former staff member accused her in 1996 of threatening him with a meat cleaver and once, after she allegedly bit a police officer following a traffic altercation in Brooklyn, she was subdued with Mace.

Smith is a former deputy Queens city clerk. 7-20-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette