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Charles Joseph Hynes (born Charles Aiken Hynes; May 28, 1935 – January 29, 2019) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
who served as
Kings County District Attorney The Kings County District Attorney's Office, also known as the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, is the district attorney's office for Kings County, coterminous with the Borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The office is responsible for the ...
from 1990 to 2013.


Early life and education

Hynes was born and raised, largely by his mother, Regina Katherine Hynes ( Drew), in
Flatbush, Brooklyn Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park to the north, East Flatbush to the east, Midwood to the south, ...
. He was estranged from his father, Harold Hynes. He was baptized Charles Aiken Hynes, but "since I was not fond of either of my given names, I chose Joe as my confirmation name when I was twelve." As he was widely known as "Joe", he legally changed his middle name to Joseph upon running for political office. He attended St. Ann's Academy in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
(now
Archbishop Molloy High School Archbishop Molloy High School (also called Molloy, Archbishop Molloy, or AMHS) is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9-12, located on on 83-53 Manton Street, Briarwood, Queens, New York. It is part of the Roman Cat ...
), and received both his bachelor's degree, in 1957, and his J.D. in 1961 from St. John's University in
Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...
.


Career before 1989

In 1963, Hynes began working for the
Legal Aid Society The Legal Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal aid provider based in New York City. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of legal aid in the United States. Its attorneys provide representation on criminal and civil mat ...
as an associate attorney. He joined the Kings County District Attorney's Office in 1969, as an Assistant District Attorney. In 1971, Hynes was appointed as Chief of the
Rackets Racket may refer to: * Racket (crime), a systematised element of organized crime ** Protection racket, a scheme whereby a group provides protection to businesses or other groups through violence outside the sanction of the law * Racket (sports equ ...
Bureau, and was named First Assistant District Attorney in 1973. In 1975,
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Hugh Carey and
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Louis Lefkowitz Louis J. Lefkowitz (July 3, 1904 – June 20, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the Attorney General of New York State for 22 years. He was a Republican. Early life and education Lefkowitz was born to a Jewish family ...
appointed Hynes as special state prosecutor for Nursing Homes, Health and Social Services, in response to a massive scandal in the state’s nursing home industry. Hynes' office launched a comprehensive attack on
Medicaid fraud Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...
, and his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit eventually became a national model, cited in a report of the
House Select Committee on Aging The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Aging was a permanent select committee of the United States House of Representatives between 1974 and 1992. The committee was created with the intent not of forming legislation directly, but ...
as the best in the country. Hynes testified before the United States Congress in 1976, in favor of legislation establishing state fraud control units and providing federal funding. The legislation became law in 1977. Now, 48 states have Medicaid Fraud Control Units. Hynes was appointed the 24th
New York City Fire Commissioner The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York. There have been 34 commissioners excluding Acting Fire Commissioners, and 38 commission ...
by
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
Edward I. Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayo ...
on November 5, 1980 upon the resignation of Augustus A. Beekman. Hynes served in that position until his resignation on October 22, 1982. He served as a Commissioner for the New York State Commission of Investigation between 1983 and 1985, by appointment of New York State Assembly Speaker
Stanley Fink Stanley Fink (February 6, 1936 – March 4, 1997) was an American lawyer and politician. Life Fink was born on February 6, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York City. He attended New Utrecht High School. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1956, and fr ...
. In 1985, Governor
Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...
appointed District Attorney Hynes as Special State Prosecutor for the New York City Criminal Justice System. In 1987 Hynes investigated the death of Michael Griffith, an
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
teen. Hynes secured three
homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
conviction In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of " not proven", which is cons ...
s against the defendants and published a book about the case.


District Attorney


Accomplishments

In October, 1990, Hynes initiated the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program (DTAP) on the premise that drug-addicted defendants would return to society in a better position to resist drugs and crime after treatment than if they had spent a comparable time in prison at nearly twice the cost. DTAP is available for nonviolent predicate felons with a history of drug addiction and has been held up as a model for similar prosecution based drug treatment programs across the country. In 1999 Hynes created "the ComALERT (Community And Law Enforcement Resources Together) public safety program which supports individuals on probation or parole as they re-enter their Brooklyn communities. The program was validated by a
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
study which found it reduced recidivism by more than half." Hynes is credited with having established one of the most comprehensive-and first-countywide programs designed specifically to address ]
domestic abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partne ...
as a criminal issue, and with the collaboration of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani implemented a citywide program to monitor convicted domestic violence offenders.


Election campaigns and challengers

In
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
he sought the Democratic nomination for
Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor h ...
but was defeated in the primary by
Peter Vallone Sr. Peter Fortunate Vallone Sr. (born December 13, 1934 in New York City) is an American politician. Background His father, Judge Charles J. Vallone (1901–1967) of the Queens County Civil Court, encouraged young Peter to broaden his horizons b ...
In 2005, Hynes narrowly beat a primary challenge from
State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...
John L. Sampson John L. Sampson (born June 17, 1965) is an American former politician and convicted felon. A Democrat, Sampson represented District 19 in the New York State Senate from 1997 to 2015. He is of Guyanese heritage. Sampson became Senate Democratic ...
who won 37 percent of the vote to Hynes' 41 percent. Mark G. Peters, a former senior official in the state attorney general's office, got 15 percent of the votes and Arnold Kriss, a former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn and a former deputy police commissioner, received 7 percent. The race had attracted considerable attention because Mr. Hynes, a fixture in Brooklyn politics, was seen as vulnerable after four terms in office. In 2009, Hynes was unopposed. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that the three-way Democratic primary race in 2013 posed a threat to Mr. Hynes. In the Democratic primary in 2005, when Mr. Hynes had four opponents, he won with 41 percent of the vote, 4 percent more than John L. Sampson, a state senator from Brooklyn.Secret, Mosi and Weiser, Benjamin, and Buettner, Russ, (December 30, 2012
What to Expect in New York in 2013 – Courts
''New York Times'', accessed June 10, 2013
In the previous primary, an obscure candidate, Sandra E. Roper, mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge against Mr. Hynes. The ''Times'' writes that while Mr. Hynes has been in office more than 20 years, he has recently come under fire for failing to investigate sexual abuse claims in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities and for his office’s mishandling of cases that sent innocent people to prison. In the 2013 Democratic primary, and then again in the general election on the
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
and
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
lines, Hynes lost to Kenneth P. Thompson.


Controversies


Prosecution of politicians, elected judges and political opponents

In 1997, Hynes successfully prosecuted lawyer
John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'Hara: Stories, Charles McGrath, ed., The ...
for voting in the wrong election district. As a result, O'Hara, who admits that he had voted in his girlfriend's district, was disbarred, paid a $20,000 fine, and served 1,500 hours of community service. He is the only person besides suffragette
Susan B. Anthony Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
to be convicted in New York for voting in the wrong district. O'Hara has claimed he was prosecuted because he had run for office against Hynes' allies and had supported challengers against Hynes. In 2009, the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division unanimously approved a report by a state judicial committee that found that O'Hara's prosecution was unjustified; the report said, "Mr. O'Hara, accurately it appears, claims that ynes' politicalmachine went gunning for him and pounced on his change of residency calling it election fraud." O'Hara was reinstated to the bar, although his conviction was upheld. In 2001, civil court judge John Phillips announced his intent to oppose Hynes in that year's race for district attorney. Shortly afterward, Hynes' office began an investigation that resulted in claims that Phillips was the victim of a
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...
scheme, and that the 70-year-old judge was
incompetent Incompetence is the inability to perform; lack of competence; ineptitude. Aspects of incompetence include: *Administrative incompetence, dysfunctional administrative behaviors that hinder attainment of organization goals *Incompetence (law), a p ...
to handle his own affairs. Hynes' former chief of staff was named as temporary guardian of Phillips' real estate holdings. In 2003, Hynes' office filed felony theft charges against Sandra Roper, a lawyer who had challenged Hynes in the 2001 primary race. Prosecutors said that Roper had stolen about $9,000 from a client, whom she allegedly told she was representing for free. Ms. Roper's defense argued that the funds were legal fees that the client had agreed to. Hynes recused himself from the case. Following a 2004 mistrial due to a
hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. Hung jury usually results in the case being tried again. T ...
, the charges were dismissed in 2005 after Roper repaid the funds to the client. Roper subsequently sued Hynes, alleging that he had acted improperly; the lawsuit was thrown out in 2006, as the court found that Roper had not proven that Hynes was personally involved in her prosecution. Between 2003 and 2007, Hynes prosecuted former assemblyman and Kings County Democratic Party chief
Clarence Norman Jr. Clarence Norman Jr. (born August 25, 1951) is a former American politician from the state of New York. He was the former chairman of the Kings County Democratic Party and member of the New York State Assembly from the 43rd Assembly District in ...
, four times on four separate political corruption indictments. Norman was acquitted once and convicted three times on felony charges, including grand larceny and extortion. Hynes has also successfully prosecuted two former Brooklyn Supreme Court Justices, Victor Barron and
Gerald Garson Gerald Phillip Garson (August 3, 1932 — February 6, 2016) was an American lawyer and New York Supreme Court Justice who heard matrimonial divorce and child custody cases in Brooklyn.
, for taking bribes.


Kidnapping and sex abuse cases in ultra-Orthodox communities

In 1998, after being kidnapped, blindfolded, bloodied, and stun-gunned by hooded assailants of the
New York divorce coercion gang The New York divorce coercion gang was a Haredi Jewish group that kidnapped, and in some cases tortured, Jewish men in the New York metropolitan area to force them to grant their wives ''gittin'' (religious divorces). The Federal Bureau of Invest ...
over the issuance of a ''
get Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS, a ...
'' (religious divorce document), Abraham Rubin took his case to the
New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act i ...
, but it was dropped by Hynes' office because “the victim could not identify any of his assailants.” ''
Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...
'' interviewed an additional dozen residents in the neighborhoods of Borough Park and
Midwood, Brooklyn Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, a ...
, all of whom claimed that they were harassed, threatened, or assaulted by men working for their estranged wives. Hynes agreed to look into the charges but, despite pressure from the victims, declined to prosecute. The gang remained in operation until they were apprehended in a sting operation and convicted in the
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the ...
. Hynes was also criticized for alleged reluctance in prosecuting cases of
sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
against children in ultra-Orthodox communities, which make up a significant segment of Brooklyn. A 2008 editorial in ''
The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish W ...
'' accused Hynes of treating such cases "with a stance ranging from passive to weak-willed." The editorial focused in particular on the case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, a Brooklyn
yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...
teacher charged with sexually molesting several students. In a
plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or ''nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendant ...
, Hynes allowed Kolko to plead guilty only to two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment; he was sentenced to three years' probation. Following the Kolko case, Hynes' office started a program in 2009 called Kol Tzedek (Hebrew for Voice of Justice) to focus on and provide support for ultra-Orthodox sexual abuse victims. Hynes said in 2012 that the program had led to 95 arrests involving more than 120 victims. ''The New York Times'' wrote that their own investigation found that the program had little to do with many of the 95 arrests cited by Hynes. His office declined to publicize the names of defendants arrested or convicted in these cases, a policy Hynes attributed to concern that in the "very tight-knit and insular" ultra-Orthodox community, disclosure of defendants' names would place the victims at risk. Victims' rights groups alleged that this and other decisions represent Hynes bowing to pressure from ultra-Orthodox leaders. In January 2013, shortly before the sentencing of Satmar Hasidic counselor Nechemya Weberman for repeatedly abusing a young girl, Hynes published an editorial in the '' Daily News'' in which he wrote, "I hope the verdict and sentence sends a very clear and unmistakable message to people in certain parts of the Orthodox community — it is time to start protecting victims rather than defendants." Weberman was sentenced to 103 years in prison. Two weeks later, Jewish religious school principal Emanuel Yegutkin was sentenced to 55 years for abusing three boys. Hynes touted both convictions as victories for his office.


Allegations of misconduct

In 2010, Hynes' office vacated the murder conviction of Jabbar Collins, who had been convicted in 1995 of killing a Brooklyn rabbi. Collins had been sentenced to 34 years to life in prison, but won the right to retrial after the district attorney's office admitted that a key witness had recanted his testimony in the presence of a prosecutor before trial, and that this information had not been disclosed to the defense. Collins was released after another of the original witnesses against him, Angel Santos, testified that the case's original prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Michael Vecchione, had coerced Santos to testify against Collins with threats of physical violence and imprisonment. Following Collins' release, Hynes said Vecchione was a "very principled lawyer" and "not guilty of any misconduct", and said he had no plans to investigate anyone who had been involved in Collins' prosecution. The following year, Collins filed a $150 million lawsuit against Vecchione and several other prosecutors in Hynes' office, although Hynes himself was not named as a defendant. The lawsuit charged that prosecutors in the district attorney's office routinely coerced witnesses to testify through illegal threats and intimidation, and that Hynes "maintained a policy, custom and/or practice of deliberate indifference to violations by his employees of the constitutional rights of individuals who were investigated and criminally prosecuted." In a hearing for the lawsuit, Judge Frederic Block said Vecchione's behavior in Collins' trial had been "horrendous" and asked the lawyer for the city, "Hynes hasn't treated it seriously, has he?" In February 2013, Block denied the city's motion to dismiss the suit, but said that while Collins could move forward in the suit against New York City, Vecchione and the other individual prosecutors named were immune to prosecution. Hynes' office was also criticized for its conduct in prosecuting William Lopez, who spent 23 years in prison for murder before his release by a federal judge in 2013; and Ronald Bozeman, who was released in 2012 after serving a year in prison on an indictment for armed robbery. Following a January 2013 cover article in the ''
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...
'' titled "Brooklyn Deserves a New D.A.", Hynes sent the ''Voice'' a lengthy rebuttal which called their story "highly biased journalism" and "totally one-sided." He also responded to specific details in their reporting on the cases of Collins and Bozeman, as well as other matters discussed in the article.


CBS TV reality series

In May 2013, a lawsuit was filed by Abe George, a candidate opposing Hynes in the 2013 primary race, to block
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
from airing a reality show, titled '' Brooklyn D.A.'', featuring Hynes' staff of prosecutors fighting to win cases. George claimed that Hynes and CBS were "illegally utilizing, diverting and distributing the public resources of his office and position as Brooklyn District Attorney for the purposes of furthering ynes'personal political campaign." CBS, which described the program as a "six-part news series", said George's lawsuit was "obviously a publicity push by a politician." A Manhattan judge dismissed George's request, and the series premiered on May 28, 2013.


Electoral defeat

Hynes was defeated in his 2013 bid for reelection by Kenneth Thompson.


Personal life

Hynes was married to Patricia L. Pennisi, a registered nurse. The couple had five children and seventeen grandchildren. Hynes kept a summer home in Breezy Point, New York. Charles Hynes died on 29 January 2019 at the age of 83.Longtime Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes dead at 83
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hynes, Charles, J. 1935 births 2019 deaths St. Ann's Academy (Manhattan) alumni Commissioners of the New York City Fire Department St. John's University (New York City) alumni Kings County District Attorneys People from Flatbush, Brooklyn 20th-century American lawyers