Dumping trial defense lawyers call for DA’s office to be investigated

Lawyers representing two Datre family members on trial facing illegal dumping charges on Friday requested an “office-wide inquiry” into the Suffolk County district attorney’s office — specifically focused on Christopher McPartland, the district attorney’s public corruption prosecutor, who is currently under federal investigation.

In State Supreme Court in Central Islip, Kevin Kearon, counsel to Thomas Datre Jr., mentioned McPartland, who Newsday has reported has received a target letter from the federal grand jury investigating corruption.

Kearon also referred to the guilty plea entered in federal court by James Burke, the former Suffolk County police chief, for violating a man’s civil rights and orchestrating a cover-up.

“The reason this is relative in this case is because the lead investigator into the public corruption aspect of the case against the Datres is and was Chris McPartland,” Kearon said.

Kearon, along with defense attorney Andrew Campanelli, who represents Datre Sr., have long said the Datres were victims of selective prosecution by the district attorney’s office.

Datre Jr. and his father, Thomas Datre Sr., face charges of criminal mischief; endangering public health, safety or the environment; and operating a solid-waste management facility without a permit.

They are among six who were indicted in December 2014 on charges related to the dumping of dirt and debris laced with toxins at four sites, including Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood; a six-home subdivision in Islandia built for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans; a private 1-acre lot on Islip Avenue in Central Islip; and a sensitive wetland in Deer Park in Babylon Town.

Two prosecution witnesses, Eric Hofmeister, a former acting Islip Town supervisor, and George Hafele, a former Islip deputy parks commissioner, have testified in the dumping trial that they were interviewed by investigators at the district attorney’s office, including McPartland.

Hofmeister testified during cross-examination by Kearon Thursday that a meeting at the district attorney’s office became “adversarial” after Hofmeister presented the estimates of the volume of contaminated materials the town believed needed to be removed from Clemente Park.

Spota, early in his investigation, estimated that nearly 50,000 tons of contaminated materials were dumped at the park. Hofmeister told Spota’s office that the town’s estimate was closer to 30,000 tons.

“The DA disputed them,” Hofmeister testified. “They didn’t agree with our concept for how we were doing calculations . . . They were angry at me.”

SEE PHOTOSIslip dumping scandal: A timeline

Hofmeister said he was “standing my ground,” which led to a certain “tone of the meeting.”

Hafele, during cross-examination last week by Campanelli, testified that he told members of the district attorney’s office about certain Conservative Party connections in the town’s parks department as well as party leadership in the town.

Hafele said McPartland asked him to “speculate wildly” about how the dumping “came about.”

While Kearon said he has no specific knowledge that any members of the district attorney’s office were engaged in wrongdoing, he said any ongoing investigation into wrongdoing by a member of that office should be “disclosed to the defense.”

Acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho told Assistant District Attorney Mark Murray to take the defense’s request to “the highest level in your office and see how you want to respond to this.”

Murray said he would do that and would do “what is demanded by the law.”

Kearon, concerned about what he characterized as possible confidentiality clauses in plea agreements, told Camacho, “I’m asking the court to think about these issues and potentially make a suggestion or fashion a solution about how we can made an adequate inquiry.”

Camacho said he would think about it over the weekend.