Judge 'objective decision maker'

BY ANN GIVENS | Newsday Staff Writer

October 17, 2006

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof has presided over some of the highest profile cases that have come through the Nassau County courthouse this year - the Martin Heidgen murder trial and plea deals for several key players in the Roslyn school district's $11.2-million embezzlement scheme.

So far though, he has managed to navigate these legal cases unscathed, without drawing criticism from either prosecutors or defense lawyers.

Ed Jenks of Mineola, who represented former Roslyn schools chief Frank Tassone in his recent guilty plea to grand larceny charges, said Honorof was able to make fair decisions, even in the glare of the media spotlight.

"That was certainly a case where he had huge political pressure, but he balanced the needs of the defendant against the needs of the community and came to a fair and rational decision," Jenks said.

Honorof was first appointed by Gov. George Pataki to the state Court of Claims in 1996, and has served as an acting State Supreme Court justice, presiding over criminal cases, ever since. He was appointed last year to his second eight-year term, which runs through 2013.

Among his notable rulings was a 2003 decision to allow prosecutors to use a car's "black box" to determine how fast it was going in a fatal drag racing case.

Before he became a judge, he spent five years as a prosecutor in Nassau, and close to 20 years in private practice.

Honorof has made some controversial decisions in Heidgen's case, first throwing out Heidgen's blood evidence after state police admitted mishandling it, then allowing the prosecutor to do a DNA test to readmit it.

Lawyers who have worked with Honorof say that he does what he thinks is right, rather than what is popular.

"He presents himself as an objective decision maker," said defense lawyer Stephen Scaring of Garden City. "That helps both sides deal with a serious matter such as this."