Robert Cicale wants special prosecutor in his case

Robert Cicale, a Suffolk District Court judge arrested on charges of burglarizing a neighbor’s home and stealing women’s underwear, has asked that the Suffolk district attorney’s office be disqualified from case, and a special prosecutor named instead.

William Wexler, Cicale’s attorney, filed papers last week asking for a special prosecutor because a supervisor in the major crime bureau was seeking a judgeship and had been screened by the Suffolk County Bar Association.

Wexler said the Suffolk district attorney, “whose supervisory ADA in the major case bureau stands to benefit personally from Cicale’s conviction, should not conduct the prosecution.”

Wexler in his legal papers noted Suffolk judges and prosecutors recused themselves when Babylon Town Attorney Lindsay Henry, whose father was a former district attorney and sister is a District Court judge, was charged with misdemeanor assault earlier this year.

“Continued involvement of the Suffolk County District Attorney and his assistants would undermine public confidence and be unfair to Cicale,” Wexler wrote.

Justin Meyers, chief of staff for District Attorney Timothy Sini, did not return a request for comment.

Cicale has pleaded not guilty.