Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove.

An upstate New York district attorney faces perjury and misconduct charges after a state probe into his handling of a fatal police shooting case.

Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove was arraigned Friday afternoon on charges that accuse him of withholding evidence from a grand jury that cleared a police officer who killed a man during a traffic stop in April 2016.

Abelove said after the court appearance that he will remain in his post and expects to be vindicated at trial.

The official misconduct charges result from a probe by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

It's the first time a district attorney has faced criminal charges following Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2015 executive order directing the state attorney general to intervene in cases of unarmed civilians killed by police.