‘Does anyone really think these people are going to be objective when they are donating to his campaign?’ — Pace University Law Professor Bennett Gershman, on three members of a panel investigating convictions by Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes’ (above) office contributing to his re-election campaign (Theodore Parisienne)
Three members of a special “independent” panel set up by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes to review 50 of his office’s most controversial convictions donated to his re-election campaign, records show.
Law professor Robert Keating provided $500, attorney Laura Brevetti kicked in $250, and retired Judge Joseph Bellacosa forked over $1,000 to Hynes, according to campaign filings.
Hynes is facing the most serious re-election challenge of his 24-year career as Brooklyn’s top lawman.
“Does anyone really think these people are going to be objective when they are donating to his campaign?” said Pace University law professor and former prosecutor Bennett Gershman. “These are his friends, his cronies. I think it’s a serious question if they can be objective.”
The trio are part of a 12-person panel Hynes created to probe convictions based on investigative work by then-NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella, who allegedly used shady witnesses and forced confessions to put people in the slammer.
While many of Scarcella’s cases preceded his tenure as DA, Hynes fought off appeals of his convictions for years before pressure for new investigations became too great to ignore.
In March, Hynes’ own Conviction Integrity Unit tossed the Scarcella-stained conviction of David Ranta for murdering a rabbi, freeing the printer after 23 years in prison.
Stunning revelations about Scarcella’s ugly tactics in that case, which went unquestioned by prosecutors at the time, led to the creation of Hynes’ new review panel.
Hynes campaign spokesman George Arzt insisted the panelists remain independent, despite their support for the man whose office they are charged with reviewing.
“These three prominent New Yorkers had distinguished careers on the judiciary, and their integrity and objectivity is unquestioned,” he told The Post.
Hynes’ 40-page donor list was filled with other potentially questionable contributions, including money given by relatives of sitting Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Matthew D’Emic.
Records show that several relatives of the jurist contributed nearly $1,000 to re-elect Hynes.
“That’s extremely troubling,” Gershman said. “Can you maintain a professional relationship in court between the prosecutor and the judge when there is money being donated?”
D’Emic would not comment when asked about the ethical implications of the contributions.
And the DA’s office has suffered several other recent setbacks.
Jabbar Collins — who spent 15 years in prison for the murder of a rabbi before a federal judge set him free, citing misconduct by Hynes’ staff — is suing the city for $150 million. And four men charged with raping and pimping a young Orthodox Jewish woman also saw the charges dropped in June 2012 after Brooklyn prosecutors failed to disclose that their accuser recanted her claims.