Judge in Spota case doesn't seem inclined to help with ex-Suffolk DA and top aide's pardon quest

The federal judge who sentenced ex-Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and his aide to 5 years in prison doesn’t appear inclined to help them with their quests for pardons from President Donald Trump on their convictions for orchestrating a cover-up of the beating of a shackled prisoner at a Long Island police precinct in 2012, according to new court records.

U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, in a newly filed order after the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice sought her input, said she had nothing else to say about their case beyond what she’s already written in a series of legal decisions and said in court during their sentencing.

“The Court expressed its views with respect to, among other things, the nature of Defendants' criminal conduct and the credibility of witness testimony in written decisions concerning posttrial motions and applications as well as on the record during the sentencing proceedings held on Aug. 10, 2021 and will not express any views beyond that,” Azrack wrote Tuesday.

Newsday reported last month that both Spota and one of his top prosecutors, Christopher McPartland, had applied for clemency to the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

McPartland, 60, of Northport, and Spota, 84, of Mount Sinai, each were sentenced to five years in prison following their 2019 convictions of witness tampering, conspiracy to tamper with witnesses, obstruction of justice and of being an accessory after the fact connected to the beating of a prisoner by ex-Suffolk Police Chief James Burke. Burke pleaded guilty and served most of a 46-month sentence.

Azrack’s response followed emails on July 22 from Yolanda McCray Jones, an attorney advisor at the Office of the Pardon Attorney, to U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. and Catherine M. Mirabile, the chief of both the Long Island Division and of the Criminal Section of the Long Island Division, asking for their input on the clemency requests. 

McCray Jones wrote that “your views will carry considerable weight as we formulate our recommendation to the President concerning this application” and also asked them to forward their request to Azrack, the sentencing judge.

A spokesman for Nocella and Mirable declined to comment.

Attorney Anthony La Pinta, a longtime friend of Spota who worked on his defense team and had employed Spota as an administrative clerk as part of his post-prison work release, did not return a message Tuesday. But last month, he said that while he was not involved in Spota's pardon application, he understood that it was based on his "personal and professional background" that included being "a hard working public servant and a member of the New York State Bar in good standing for close to 50 years."

Azrack, during Spota’s 2021 sentencing, told Spota that the facts of his case were “so outrageous that a substantial prison sentence is required here” and she stressed that the conduct of both Spota and McPartland “was not a momentary moral lapse.”

“When this conspiracy was ultimately uncovered and became public, many citizens of Suffolk County also heard a message from Mr. Spota and his coconspirators,” Azrack said at sentencing. “This message was that, at the highest levels of law enforcement in Suffolk County, prosecutorial power is abused, certain individuals are above the law, and civil rights violations will be swept under the rug by prosecutors and police. That message has done incalculable damage to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, the Suffolk County Police Department, and to respect for the law in Suffolk County.”

Additionally, in a 2020 decision denying the defendants’ request for a new trial that alleged a key witness had perjured themselves, Azrack denied the request and said she found the witness’ testimony to be “credible.”

Then-federal prosecutor Nicole Boeckmann, who was on the team of attorneys who prosecuted Spota and McPartland, told Azrack at sentencing that Spota had disgraced his office.

“Being a prosecutor is about justice, fairness and integrity,” Boeckmann said. “And what he did in this case is the antithesis of that. … He disgraced it. He blemished it. He tarnished it beyond repair.”

Spota, who told the judge at sentencing that he hoped not to “die in prison alone,” also said: “What the jury found had taken place was a violation of the trust that the members of the DA's office and the community placed in me, and I fear and expect that that's the way I'll always be remembered.”

A federal appeals court in 2023 upheld their convictions. 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.