Law Beat: New York State Police investigator disciplinary record leads to case dismissal

The once secret disciplinary record of a decorated narcotics investigator is coming back to haunt Albany County prosecutors.On Thursday, State Police Senior Investigator Samuel Mercado’s disciplinary history was the underlying reason why state Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch tossed the 2017 felony drug conviction of Hector Gomez, a New York City man who was serving a nine-year prison sentence for allegedly moving 2,195 bags of heroin through the Capital Region on the Thruway.