Thomas Spota

Thomas J. Spota III (born 1941, New York) was the District Attorney of Suffolk County, New York, serving from 2002 to late 2017. During this period, Spota was inducted into the Long Island Press Power List Hall of Fame in 2009, having been named to the Power List at least five times.[1]

Thomas J. Spota III
District Attorney of Suffolk County
In office
January 1, 2002 – November 10, 2017
Preceded byJames M. Catterson, Jr.
Succeeded byEmily Constant
ConstituencySuffolk County, New York
Personal details
Born1941
Political partyDemocratic
EducationFairfield University (B.A.)
St. John's University (J.D.)
WebsiteSuffolk County District Attorney's Office

Spota resigned November 10, 2017, after he was indicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice in the investigation of Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke.[2][3][4] Spota was subsequently found guilty and faces up to 20 years in prison. [5] Spota was disbarred on June 10th, 2020. [6]

Early life and education

Spota was born in 1941 and grew up in New Hyde Park, New York, on Long Island. He graduated from Chaminade High School, a private Catholic school in Mineola, New York. He earned degrees at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut and St. John's University School of Law in Jamaica, Queens, New York.[7]

Law career

After passing the bar, Spota worked as an assistant prosecutor under Suffolk County District Attorney Patrick Henry, during the 1970s and early 1980s. He entered private law practice in Suffolk, representing clients including the Suffolk Detectives Association and other law enforcement unions.[8]

Personal

He lives in Mount Sinai, New York with his wife. They have three grown children.

District Attorney of Suffolk County

In 2001 Republican-turned-Democrat Spota ran for District Attorney, and defeated three-time incumbent James M. Catterson Jr in November 2001, taking 58% of the vote. That year in Nassau County, Democrats also were victorious in many positions.[9] He was reelected in 2005,[10] and again in 2009 without any major-party opposition.[11] Spota has been active in the fight against the distribution of child pornography over the Internet. In 2003, Spota indicted twelve Suffolk residents who used KaZaA, a file-sharing program to spread child pornography.[12] Spota was called to testify before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on September 9, 2003 at a hearing concerning "Pornography, Technology, and Process: Problems and Solutions on Peer-to-Peer Networks." Spota recommended a new federal task force and said that legislation was needed to "attack the owners and the distributors of these programs, who are reaping enormous profits."[13] From December 2010, his office oversaw the investigation of numerous homicides in Suffolk County, believed to have been perpetrated by a single unidentified person, known as the Long Island serial killer, or LISK. The remains of at least ten persons have been found on South Shore beaches, and are believed to be related. The open homicide investigation is still underway. Among the successful cases prosecuted by his office was the conviction in May 2017 of John Bittrolff, a Manorville carpenter charged with the homicides of prostitutes Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee, whose bodies were found on area South Shore beaches in 1993 and 1994, respectively.[14]

Controversy

In May 2013 the FBI and the US Attorney's Office opened an investigation into alleged actions by James Burke, Chief of the Suffolk County Police Department: the alleged assault of a suspect in police custody, a subsequent cover-up, and coercion of witnesses. The former chief pleaded guilty to reduced charges in February 2016.[15]

The federal inquiry subsequently expanded beyond Burke to investigate a broader pattern of corruption in both the police department and the office of the Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas J. Spota.[15] In October 2017, Spota and an aide were indicted on charges of obstructing the investigation of James Burke for police brutality.[16][17] Spota resigned from office on November 10, 2017. He was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and conspiracy charges in December 2019 [18] and disbarred in June 2020. [19] He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24, 2021 and is currently facing up to 20 years in prison.[20]

See also

References
  1. Power List 2009 Hall of Fame
  2. Keshner, Andrew. "Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota resigning Friday after allegedly covering up police chief beating". New York Daily News. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  3. Campbell, Danielle. "Spota, under indictment, finishes DA career under cloud of cover-up charges". News 12 Long Island. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  4. Swenson, Kyle. "A scandal sent a Long Island police chief to prison. Now it's brought down the D.A., too". Washington Post. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/nyregion/tom-spota-trial-verdict.html
  6. http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad2/Handdowns/2020/Decisions/D62922.pdf
  7. Spotlight on DA Thomas Spota
  8. "For D.A. in Suffolk and Westchester". The New York Times. 2001-11-02. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  9. THE 2001 ELECTIONS: NASSAU COUNTY; Suozzi Wins Easily in Rebuke of Nassau's G.O.P. Machine
  10. Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota sworn in, Amityville Record
  11. Suffolk County Board of Elections: 2009 Election Official Results
  12. Suffolk Indicts 12 in Child Porn Archived 2006-08-23 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Testimony of Mr. Thomas Spota, Suffolk County District Attorney, September 9, 2003
  14. Frank Eltman, AP. "Prosecutor: Convicted killer may be tied to more NY slayings". Newser. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  15. Dollinger, Arielle; Santora, Marc (2016-02-26). "James Burke, Ex-Suffolk County Police Chief, Pleads Guilty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  16. "Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota Indicted In 2012 Police Brutality Cover-up". NBC. New York. 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  17. "DA in New York is accused of obstructing probe into beating of suspect by former police chief". ABA Journal. Debra Cassens Weiss. Retrieved 2017-11-01.CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. Andrew Denney (2019-12-17). "Ex-Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota found guilty of protecting ex-chief who bashed porn thief". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  19. https://www.newsday.com/long-island/spota-disbar-felony-conviction-1.45565535
  20. Kessler, Robert (December 10, 2020). "Judge sets Spota, McPartland sentencings for March 24". Newsday. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
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