As outgoing Brooklyn DA Charles “Joe” Hynes prepares to
leave office after 24 years, it appears yet another scandal is brewing inside
his embattled administration—-this time, the firing of first-year ADA Barbara
Burke who is believed to be responsible for leaking an email containing a
bigoted Yiddish term aimed at incoming DA Kenneth Thompson between Hynes and
long-time friend, former chief judge and convicted felon, Sol Wachtler to the
website BuzzFeed.
THE NEW YORK TIMES reports that Hynes originally claimed his
email had been hacked when the missive first ran on BuzzFeed, and requested
special prosecutor to investigate the matter.
It is believed that ADA Burke, who, as part of Hynes’
re-election campaign had access to Hynes’ email account, shared the message
with friends, but not BuzzFeed.
Ms. Burke, who joined the DA’s office in January, was
charged specifically with handling communications between Hynes’ office and
Attorney Joel B. Rudin, who is representing Jabbar Collins in his $150M lawsuit
against Hynes’ office.
Ironically, Burke was fired the same day the two ADAs
handling the case against Sam Kellner were demoted after they announced they
were going to ask for a dismissal.
Longtime top-Hynes ADA Michael Vecchione, who has already
announced his plans to retire before the incoming Thompson has the chance to
fire him, blocked the request for dismissal, resulting in a new ADA recently
asking a judge to extend the case into January—-seemingly looking to kick the
case to Thompson’s administration.
Burke’s lawyer, Mark Bederow, said Burke was terminated for
doing something ethical.
“She was proud and excited to be an assistant district
attorney,” Bederow said of Burke. “She raised ethical considerations and was
demoted and ultimately terminated as a result of that.”
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