ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Former Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and former Police Chief La’Ron Singletary appeared in federal court Tuesday morning for a hearing in the case of Hall v. Warren, a civil rights lawsuit over an alleged pattern of racist policing by the Rochester Police Department.

Tuesday’s hearing looked at any potential conflicts of interest in the City of Rochester’s joint representation of Warren and Singletary.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that there is a conflict of interest coming from Warren and Singletary's history of disagreement on the details of the March 2020 death of Daniel Prude in Rochester police custody.

Representation for Warren and Singletary stated that they only disagreed on who knew what and when, not about the actual details of what happened in the Prude case. 

Singletary was fired by Warren in September 2020, about a week after he announced his decision to retire. He later settled a defamation lawsuit against the city and the police department in 2022 that claimed Warren created a hostile work environment and that he was wrongfully terminated during the fallout of Prude's death.

At the time, Singletary said he kept the mayor properly informed of updates regarding Prude's death and he claimed she pressured him to omit details to city council's investigation. He also alleged the mayor repeatedly lied to the public about what she knew and when she knew it after Prude's death came to light, often casting the former chief as not being forthcoming.

Warren had been heavily criticized for the city’s handling of Prude’s death. She claimed she had no knowledge of Prude’s case until his family went public. But a report commissioned by Rochester City Council faulted her and the former police chief for keeping critical details of the case secret for months and lying to the public about what they knew.

Warren resigned from office in 2021 after pleading guilty to violating election law.

In Hall v. Warren, a group that includes local activist group Free the People ROC, the National Lawyers Guild Rochester chapter and several others alleged excessive use-of-force practices against members of the Black and brown community by the RPD.

A decision on whether there are any conflicts of interest in representation will come later from Judge Mark Pedersen.