Underage Sex Allegation Against Attorney Alan Dershowitz and Fallout From NYPD Killings

Former FBI criminal profiler Jim Clemente comments on an allegation of underage sex involving prominent defense attorney and former law professor Alan Dershowitz, and also addresses the ongoing drama in New York City between the police department and Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“I’ve seen him argue about his clients’ innocence a number of times and I’ve never seen him that adamant, I’ve never seen him that worked up. I think that he clearly believes what he is saying,” Clemente said.

“I do believe him in this case, and I think that this case is a very big and difficult and complicated issue,” he added, noting that the person at the center of the sexual allegation case - wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein – served his own 13-month jail term after being convicted on charges of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution.

Clemente said this proves that Epstein – who in the past hired Dershowitz to represent him - “clearly was having sex with and providing the sexual services of underage girls.”

The allegations against Dershowitz – as well as the royal family’s Prince Andrew – stem from a lawsuit by four unidentified women who claim to have been underage victims of Epstein.

Both Dershowitz and Prince Andrew have strongly denied the allegations against them. “Never under any circumstances have I ever had any sexual contact of any kind, which includes massages or any physical contact whatsoever, with Jane Doe No. 3,” said Dershowitz, who also has filed an affidavit in court denying the woman’s claims, with multiple witnesses corroborating his stated innocence.

The women are now suing the federal government to have Epstein’s plea deal with authorities overturned on the grounds that it violated their rights.

Clemente said while it’s possible that Epstein had the Dershowitz accuser working as an underage prostitute, he does not find her accounts in court documents of the alleged events credible. “Even if some of her allegations are true, this could wipe out her entire case,” he said about possible weaknesses and “implausible” aspects of her story.

On the other hand, Dershowitz has gone through the allegations step-by-step to refute the accuser’s statements,” Clemente said. “The fact that he goes through point-by-point-by-point each allegation and says, ‘I deny this for these reasons, and this is what really happened,’ I think it’s a very strong argument.”

Addressing the ongoing hostility between the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio, Clemente said police officers are a close-knit group and believe they have a right to speak out at any time to show solidarity.

“The problem is the actual form,” he said. I don’t believe that an officer’s funeral is the appropriate place – I side with (NYPD Commissioner Bill) Bratton on this one. Because although I think Bratton is being very political about it, I think he may actually have bones to pick with the mayor,” he said.

“I think he’s being political about it, but he’s also concerned about the families. I mean, can you imagine, these two families lost their loved ones, and yet instead of that being the focus of the funeral, it becomes sort of a circus, a new circus about the fact that these cops turned their backs.”

Watch the full episode to also hear a discussion about a lawsuit filed by a former grand juror in the Michael Brown police shooting case, and to get an update on the start of the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.