NY Times Kenneth P. Thompson, a former federal prosecutor, performed the rare feat of defeating a sitting district attorney by beating Brooklyn’s six-term incumbent, Charles J. Hynes, on Tuesday in the Democratic primary.
The primary followed a fierce race that often seemed more a referendum on Mr. Hynes’s lengthy record than a choice between two candidates. Though Mr. Hynes had faced serious and sometimes divided opposition before, this year’s race pitted the 78-year-old district attorney against a single well-financed candidate who rallied anti-Hynes sentiment in the borough. Mr. Thompson, 47, used a torrent of negative publicity about prosecutorial behavior in Mr. Hynes’s office to paint the incumbent as unethical and out of touch. [...]
More recently, Mr. Hynes was forced to backtrack or re-evaluate several
murder convictions from the early part of his tenure, and was dogged by
his handling of cases in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities,
most of whose leaders endorsed him.
Mr. Hynes was seen as slow
to prosecute child sexual abuse allegations against ultra-Orthodox Jews
because of rabbinical resistance, but stepped up abuse prosecutions in
the last year, and won a significant case involving a therapist who sexually abused a young patient.
This put Mr. Hynes, politically, in somewhat of a precarious position,
as some ultra-Orthodox Jews resented the prosecutions. But one Hasidic
voter, who would only give his first name, Martin, said he had chosen
Mr. Hynes at the strong urging of the community’s religious leaders.
“The leaders told us he’d be better for us,” he said.[...]
Hynes is still running for DA as a Republican in the November general election.
ReplyDeleteHynes disagrees!
DeleteAs reported by NBC
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Brooklyn-District-Attorney-Charles-Hynes-Loses-Democratic-Primary-Kenneth-Thompson-DA-223239471.html
"Hynes has the support of the GOP but says he won't run as a Republican. There are no other major party candidates in the general election."
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2013/10/hynes-to-run-for-district-attorney-as.html
DeleteA well-deserved loss for Hynes considering he falsely prosecuted and had convicted an innocent man, Nechemya Weberman, despite an utter lack of evidence.
ReplyDeleteGood riddance Mr. Hynes.
Mr. Hynes should have lost after the Crown Heights pogrom where he did nothing.
ReplyDeleteHis prosecution of Weberman was a just cause and not wrong as Dereck erroneously states.
Crown Heights was Dinkins fault. Hynes DID prosecute there. He thankfully lost due to his wrongful prosecution of Weberman.
DeleteWho did he prosecute successfully of all the mob activity? Did he get maybe one person? His performance was astoundingly bad.
DeleteHe was right on Weberman. If those that protect pedophiles voted him out due to Weberman, this was an unintended good consequence.
He tried to come back with Weberman's prosecution. All Willi's and cohorts followers were frantically tearing off Thompsons posters in BP and all over the place, in hope for favoring Metzitze Befeh L... aka BML, but it was too little too late.
Delete