Pressure for Nassau payout in Bird murder

A federal court has been asked to force Nassau County to pay an expected settlement of nearly $8 million to the estate of Jo'Anna Bird, whose 2009 murder raised questions about police mistakes.

In July, Nassau approved a financial settlement with Bird's mother, Sharon Dorsett. Dorsett had filed a 2010 federal lawsuit contending Nassau Police failed to protect her daughter.

The agreement requires the approval of the county legislature and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state oversight board with control of the county's finances.

While neither Dorsett nor the county has disclosed the terms of the settlement, the legislature's Rules and Finance committees had been scheduled Monday to vote on about $7.7 million in borrowing for the agreement. But the issue was removed from the calendar Monday morning after a meeting of the Republican caucus.

Cristina Brennan, spokeswoman for Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa), said lawmakers raised "additional issues" about the agreement, although she declined to detail the concerns.

"This is an extremely important issue," she said. "We want to make sure this review is as comprehensive as possible."

Since the legislature has failed to vote on the matter, Hempstead attorney Frederick Brewington has asked the federal court to convert the settlement into a judgment. If the court approves Brewington's request, the legislature would have no say on the agreement.

"The county has had almost 120 days to approve the deal," Brewington said.

In his Oct. 31 filing in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, Brewington cited state law requiring Nassau to vote on the settlement within 90 days.

The county attorney's office has filed opposition to Brewington's request. County Attorney John Ciampoli did not respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said Bird's ex-boyfriend, Leonardo Valdez-Cruz, terrorized her for months before finally breaking into her New Cassel apartment and stabbing her to death.

Two months after Bird's death, then-Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey announced that an internal investigation revealed that seven officers, including a patrol supervisor, failed to take appropriate action during domestic-violence visits to the home where Bird was staying in the days before Valdez-Cruz, then 23, of Westbury, killed her.

Dorsett has also said that police waited too long before entering the crime scene and that Bird could have been saved had they intervened sooner.

Valdez-Cruz is serving a life sentence.

With Sid Cassese