Special prosecutor named in Mejias menacing case

The man who won a domestic violence conviction against deposed State Senator Hiram Monserrate has now been tapped to be the special prosecutor in the case of David Mejias, the ex-legislator and current Democratic State Senate candidate accused of stalking and menacing Mejias' ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

Scott E. Kessler, the domestic violence bureau chief for the Queens district attorney's office, was brought in to prosecute Mejias because Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, whose office would normally handle such cases that occur in Nassau, said she has a "personal relationship" with the victim and the victim's family.

Mejias, who is trying to unseat the Republican incumbent in the Sixth State Senate district, is accused of using his Cadillac to tailgate, repeatedly chase and cut off his ex-girlfriend's Land Rover on Sept. 1 as she drove with her boyfriend. He's out of jail on $2,000 bond or $1,000 cash bail, officials said.

Mejias professed his innocence in a statement released Thursday by his political campaign.

And when Mejias' case is back in court on Sept. 16, Kessler will appear in Nassau court, said Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for the Queens district attorney.

Kessler, who according to his biography has been an assistant district attorney since 1988, was appointed special prosecutor under an order by Judge Anthony F. Marano of Supreme Court in Mineola.

Mejias has retained Oscar Michelen as his defense attorney, the high-powered lawyer who also represents David W. Johnson, one of Gov. David A. Paterson's closest aides, in the domestic violence scandal that led Paterson to abort his gubernatorial election campaign, clearing the way for the candidacy of Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Johnson is charged with misdemeanor assault.

In the Monserrate case, the lawmaker was found guilty last fall of misdemeanor assault for dragging his bleeding girlfriend in an altercation caught on surveillance videotape. Monserrate was acquitted of a felony, smashing his girlfriend's face with a glass. Monserrate, later bounced from his Queens State Senate seat, is now trying to win an Assembly race.