Nassau County Attorney Thomas A. Adams appeared in federal court Tuesday on the order of a judge fed up with the county for delaying multiple civil cases it faces.

Adams, in an unusual in-person appearance for Nassau's top lawyer, was joined by four other county attorneys as Magistrate Judge Lee G. Dunst took steps to advance a police misconduct lawsuit filed against Nassau in 2020.

"We seem to be stuck in the mud on this case," Dunst said from the bench in Central Islip. "Since May 2024, I’ve had a lot of problems with this case in terms of getting it to move forward."

In a written order earlier this month, the judge had even stronger words for Nassau, which he accused of stalling cases by repeatedly ignoring judicial orders.

"As the Office of the Nassau County Attorney knows quite well, their failure to comply with the undersigned's orders is not limited to this case and, in fact, is part of a well-documented pattern of abject negligence and delay in many other cases which is bordering on professional malpractice," Dunst wrote in the June 7 order requiring Adams to appear in court.

He had also written the court "will no longer tolerate the utter lack of respect for court orders" by the county attorney's office.

On Tuesday, Dunst said a "whole series of cases," had been affected by these delays.

Nassau's attorneys generally responded only to direct questions. Deputy County Attorney John Carnevale, newly assigned to the case, told the judge, "I've done my best to get up to speed on the case file."

Adams spent most of the hearing sitting in a chair behind Carnevale.

Dunst did acknowledge a previously assigned deputy county attorney, Brian McLaughlin, died recently and that such an event can have "cascading effects" on other cases. 

Retired Suffolk County Police Officer William F. Hasper filed the lawsuit that prompted Tuesday's hearing. He alleges Nassau officers fabricated criminal allegations and falsely arrested him to cover up misconduct by an Internal Affairs detective during a 2019 incident.

Hasper got into a verbal altercation with plainclothes Nassau Det. Sgt. William S. Russell in a bank parking lot in Westbury after Hasper says he honked his horn to get Russell to allow him room to enter the lot. Russell took exception, according to the lawsuit, and confronted Hasper.

As Hasper later tried to back out of his space, Russell allegedly stood behind Hasper’s truck. The lawsuit says Russell reported Hasper had struck him with his truck, which Hasper denies, and Nassau police sought his arrest. Hasper later turned himself in to police.

A few weeks later, Hasper was stopped by Suffolk police in Deer Park and held at gunpoint because they received a false alert from Nassau police that Hasper’s truck had been stolen, according to the lawsuit.

Two months after that, Hasper was stopped by a state trooper on the same stolen vehicle alert, the lawsuit says.

Anthony LaPinta, Hasper's attorney for the past year, told the judge he still needs to depose four defendants in the case.

"This case has been moving slower than a glacier-like pace," LaPinta said. "There comes a point where enough is enough."

Carnevale said outside of court the judge ordering the county attorney to appear was "atypical" but that it was normal for him to want the case to progress. 

Adams declined to speak with Newsday outside the courtroom.

The judge ordered the two sides to submit a joint letter with dates for the remaining depositions within seven days. Dunst said he would wait for that letter before setting further deadlines, but did have a parting word for the county.

"I’m quite confident the defense are going to fulfill their obligations," Dunst said.