Prosecutors have charged lawyer Hippocrates Mertsaris with sexual abuse after he either grabbed or slapped the butt and inner thigh of a Taxi and Limousine Commission judge, but Mertsaris claims he was having a spasm due to his cerebral palsy. His lawyer, Wyatt Gibbons, admits Mertsaris touched the woman, but says his client's condition leaves him with little control over his arms and legs, telling the Daily News, "He whacked her in the butt but it wasn't sexual abuse."
Mertsaris has had the condition since birth, and requires help from his father and a health aide to get around. He claims that when people come near him he tends to get nervous, and has more trouble controlling his movements. However, Mertsaris acknowledges he sent the 40-year-old administrative judge "a series of emails" two years ago which apparently annoyed her—she asked his supervisors to make him stop.
Gibbons said, "If he was starving to death and had a hamburger in front of him he couldn't lean over to pick it up," and "This is one of the most stunning displays of a lack of compassion, a lack of human kindness, a lack of judgment."
