ALBANY – Former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove once again faces a felony charge of lying to a grand jury about the 2016 fatal police shooting of unarmed drunken driving suspect Edson Thevenin in Troy.

The mid-level Appellate Division of state Supreme Court's Third Department unanimously ruled Thursday that state Supreme Court Justice Jonathan D. Nichols of Columbia County wrongly ruled in 2018 that former state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office lacked the authority to prosecute Abelove for perjury and "erred in granting defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment,” stated the decision.

The court reinstated an indictment of Abelove on one count of first-degree perjury, a felony that carries up to seven years in prison, as well as two counts of official misconduct, a misdemeanor, the court ruled.

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Abelove could not be reached by the Times Union. His attorney, Joshua Friedman, declined comment.

However, Abelove spoke on WGDJ-1300 AM Thursday morning, telling radio host Paul Vandenburgh: “We certainly were disappointed by the decision. We thought we were right on the law."

Abelove declined to speak in detail about the case or the death of Thevenin. He said he and his lawyers would weigh future legal options.

In the predawn hours of April 17, 2016, Troy police Sgt. Randall French shot Thevenin during a DWI stop near the entrance to the Collar City Bridge. Two days later, the decision said, Schneiderman's office sent Abelove a letter to determine if the attorney general had jurisdiction over the matter. A 2015 executive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo named the attorney general as the special prosecutor in cases where an unarmed civilian is killed by police and there is a "significant question as to whether the civilian was armed and dangerous at the time of his or her death."

Abelove contended the Thevenin case did not fit the criteria, saying Thevenin's use of a vehicle did not make him unarmed. On April 22, 2016, just five days after the shooting, Abelove put the case before a Rensselaer County grand jury which cleared French of any criminal wrongdoing.

In February 2017. Cuomo issued another executive order allowing the AG's office to investigate the death. A grand jury indicted Abelove in late 2017 on the perjury and official misconduct charges.

Nichols dismissed the charges against Abelove in June 2018, determining the AG's office did not have the statutory jurisdiction to prosecute Abelove on charges of felony perjury. The judge ruled the perjury charge -- based on allegedly false statements that Abelove made when he testified before the grand jury investigating him -- prejudiced the grand jury. Nichols tossed the whole case.

The AG's office appealed the decision to the Appellate Division. In October, the appeal was heard by Presiding Justice Elizabeth Garry and Justices Robert Mulvey, Michael Lynch and Eugene "Gus" Devine, all of whom ruled Thursday that Nichols' ruling should be reversed.

The case is expected to return to Nichols' court in Columbia County at some point.

Attorney General Letitia James, who took office in January, praised the appellate ruling.

“Today’s decision is a big win in our efforts to ensure that justice is served and that no person, including elected officials, is above the law," James said in a written statement Thursday. "The grand jury found (Abelove) abused his power and lied under oath in an attempt to sway a grand jury and impede our investigation – actions that are patently unlawful and unethical. We look forward to continuing this case and ensuring that justice is truly served.”