Ken Klonsky

Outing the Law: a Website on Injustice

Thank you, Brooklyn!

The people of Brooklyn have, for the second time in a three month period, turfed the District Attorney, Charles “Joe” Hynes. An African American lawyer, Ken Thompson, beat him soundly in the Democratic primary, only to have Hynes switch parties and run against him as a right wing Republican. The people of Brooklyn were rightfully outraged and voted Hynes down, 75% to 25%, on Election Day. Hynes was vain enough to think that law enforcement in the ‘borough’ would be harmfully impacted when Thompson, who lacked administrative experience, took over his office. Yes, after twenty-five years and at the age of 78, Hynes had gotten a sense of entitlement, indispensability,  and invulnerability characterized by his belief that the primary loss was the result of low voter turnout.”They love me,” his thinking must have gone, “But they didn’t realize that I might actually lose.” If you scratch the surface, Hynes was exhibiting a form of insidious racism, enough removed from saying the “N” word so that it might have been unrecognizable to the casual observer. What he was actually saying is that the primary loss was really the result of African Americans getting out and voting as a bloc. Hence, he was calling on white people to restore him to his rightful throne. And he didn’t shy away from hinting at “criminal elements” in Thompson’s election committee.

Hynes, despite some impressive accomplishments over twenty-five years, presided over sixty plus active and ongoing wrongful convictions, so many that one can only wonder if Thompson might be forced to fast track exonerations and/or ask for pardons. Hynes also pandered to the leadership of the orthodox Jewish community, covering up allegations of child abuse in return for electoral support. This man and his retinue, including John O’Mara, head of the “Conviction Integrity Unit”, have deservedly been shown the door. O’Mara and his fellow ADA’s, including Ruth Ross and Ken Taub, played a significant role in the continued incarceration of David McCallum, exhibiting either spectacular tunnel vision or the grossest kind of self serving willful ignorance. Certainly, they blocked any chance for David to have his case heard and for Willie Stuckey to have posthumous justice. They also conspired to deny David any chance for parole.

Ken Thompson has promised that wrongful convictions will be his first order of business. This breath of fresh air is welcomed by Innocence International; we only ask for a hearing into David’s case to show that his conviction was wrongful in the extreme. Justice can still be served, even at this late date.

 

 

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