Rensselaer District Attorney Joel Abelove. State Attorney General Barbara Underwood's office has filed a motion to reargue the dismissal of charges against Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove, who was accused of perjury and misconduct in a matter stemming from his office's handling of a police-involved shooting last year. The charges were thrown out earlier this month by acting state Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Nichols of Columbia County. Underwood's office argued in their motion to reargue this week that an executive order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives them the authority to prosecute Abelove. Abelove was indicted by former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman last year on two counts of official misconduct and one count of perjury relating to his investigation into the death of Edson Thevenin, an unarmed civilian shot by a Troy police officer in 2016. Cuomo had signed an executive order the year prior designating the state attorney general as special prosecutor in cases involving police and unarmed civilians in New York state. Schneiderman's complaint alleged that Abelove bypassed that process and presented the case to a grand jury without consulting the state. The complaint further alleged that Abelove withheld evidence from the grand jury to benefit the police officer, Troy Sgt. Randall French. Abelove then chose not to obtain a waiver of immunity from French as a condition of his testimony, protecting him from being prosecuted for the shooting, the Attorney General's Office said. The grand jury did not indict French. Cuomo then signed another executive order granting the state attorney general exclusive authority to investigate and prosecute matters involving specifically Thevenin's death and related events thereafter, including Abelove's grand jury presentation. Abelove's perjury charge stems from that executive order. The Attorney General's Office alleged Abelove lied to a grand jury investigating his misconduct in 2017 when he told them another prosecutor in his office granted immunity to a police officer accused of shooting a civilian. That was not true, the Attorney General's Office said. Underwood's office based much of its motion for reargument on Cuomo's second executive order. “Our indictment detailed a disturbing pattern of misconduct that violated the law and undermined a criminal investigation,” Underwood Spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said in a statement. “As we've said, we respectfully disagree with the court's decision, and have now filed both a notice of appeal and a motion to reargue.” The motion argues that Cuomo's order includes language giving them the authority to proceed with the charges against Abelove. The order says the state attorney general can investigate and prosecute “alleged unlawful acts or omissions by any person arising out of, relating to, or in any way connected with” Thevenin's death. That laid out a broad authority for the state attorney general in the Abelove investigation, the motion said. “The use of all three terms in executive order 163 signifies the governor's intent to confer very broad authority on the special prosecutor,” the motion said. It's possible the court could grant reargument on the official misconduct charges but not the perjury charge. State law allows the court to consider charges individually, the motion said. William Dreyer of Dreyer Boyajian in Albany is representing Abelove in the matter. He said he would decline to comment in the matter.