Denny Chin

And at very high levels, there were judges writing law review articles saying, like, we need to pay attention to this.

Judge Chin and Judge Katzmann issued a report that was saying, like, we were in the donut hole of immigrant legal services up here in the Capital District.

I saw that as an opportunity.

Federal judges, when they weigh in on something, we should all listen.

NBC moved to dismiss in February 2008.

Judge Denny Chin dismissed the RICO claims from the bench, but let the rest of the case proceed, finding that a reasonable jury could conclude that Dateline's involvement had motivated the officer's conduct at nearly every turn.

He cited several facts in his reasoning, including the decision to pursue Conrad at all despite his never having gone to the Sting house, the choice to arrest him at his home rather than allow a surrender or an arrest at his office or a courthouse, the open discussion of warrant strategy in front of the cameras, the coordination with Dateline personnel in plain view of the house during the operation itself, the deployment of a dozen-plus officers and a SWAT team against a career prosecutor with no history of violence and no known weapon, and the live reporting of developments to Dateline as they unfolded.

And I think that became, for the judge, the actual footage itself is sort of undeniable.