NEW YORK
The Jewish Week
11/15/13
Hella Winston
Jewish Week Correspondent
Brooklyn District Attorney-elect Ken Thompson is asking outgoing District Attorney Charles Hynes to seek an adjournment in a high-profile sex abuse case until Thompson takes office in January, The Jewish Week has learned from a source close to Thompson’s transition team.
The request, which was delivered in writing (and copied to the judge and defense attorney on the case) to Hynes on Friday, asks that, “based upon the very serious allegations in the case,” no disposition be offered at the “upcoming court conference on November 19th” and that “no procedural steps be taken in the case until” Thompson takes office.
In the letter, Thompson notes that he is making this request because it is “important that I have a full opportunity to review the Lebovits matter and participate in the decision to take the case to trial or dispose of it by way of a guilty plea.” He also asks Hynes to make “arrangements [for Thompson] to receive a copy of the entire case file and have an opportunity to speak with the assistants who are handling this matter as soon as possible.”
This request from Thompson comes on the same day a group of advocates, abuse survivors, anti-abuse activists, rabbis and concerned citizens are to submit a letter to the judge in the case paralleling Thompson’s concerns, but focusing on a request not to allow a plea bargain until certain “irregularities” in the prosecution’s handling of the case are addressed.
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