Spota, former aide make brief court appearance in cover-up case

Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and his former key aide Christopher McPartland appeared in federal court for a brief update in their criminal case Friday.

The two are charged with helping in the cover up of the beating of a man by a Spota protégé.

Eastern District prosecutor Lara Treinis Gatz said, in the Central Islip conference that lasted a few minutes, the government was handing over discovery material in the case to the defendants and anticipated completing the process by the beginning of April.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler set April 6 for the next status conference at which prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed they would probably begin submitting pretrial motions in the case.

Neither Spota nor McPartland, as well as defense attorneys and prosecutors, would comment afterward.

In another development in the case, McPartland withdrew his request to have the government pay for a lawyer to represent him. The request came in early December after McPartland’s lawyer, Larry Krantz, said they could “not anymore” agree on payment for his services.

Krantz, a former Eastern District federal prosecutor, asked at the time that the court appoint him to represent McPartland.

But Wexler, the presiding judge, said he would appoint a lawyer of his choosing if McPartland proved financial need.

“The court can’t have a defendant pick their lawyers,” Wexler said.

In papers filed with the court recently however, Krantz withdrew a request to discuss having his client represented by lawyer paid for by the government, saying: “Mr. McPartland and I have reached agreement for my continued representation of him in the matter.”

Krantz declined to say how the situation had changed.

Spota, 76, of Mt. Sinai, and McPartland, 51, of Northport, were accused in October with helping to cover up the 2012 assault on a man who had stolen a duffle bag from the SUV of the district attorney’s protégé, former Suffolk police chief James Burke.

Spota and McPartland each pleaded not guilty to a four-count indictment charging them with: conspiracy to tamper with witnesses and obstruct an official proceeding; witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding; obstruction of justice; and accessory after the fact to the deprivation of civil rights.

Burke is serving a 46-month term in federal prison for violating the civil rights of the person who took the duffle bag, Christopher Loeb, by beating him while he was in a Suffolk police precinct, and orchestrating a cover-up of the action.

Spota has paid his defense attorneys more than $154,000 from campaign funds in November and December, state campaign records say.

Spota has spent $290,264 from his campaign funds with the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP since 2016, the filings say. It is legal for campaign funds to be used to pay for attorneys.

By Robert E. Kessler

Robert.Kessler@newsday.com

Bob Kessler covers federal law, including law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, DEA, IRS and ATF, as well as the federal courts.