Leadership failure in two recent LI homicide cases

Since Jan. 6, 2021, the United States has been focused on how a failure of leadership in Washington led directly to the riot at the Capitol. It has been argued that false and reckless public statements by former President Donald Trump and his supporters incited members of the public to commit acts of violence. Many convicted rioters volunteered that their conduct was motivated by Trump's false claims.

Yet, we do not have to look that long ago or that far away to see that some of our local leaders have not learned from that tragedy. In two recent Long Island homicide cases involving the deaths of young boys, two local leaders made inflammatory and inappropriate statements with a reckless disregard for consequences. If our leaders cannot set examples as role models to teach us how to behave, we are doomed to repeat the sins of the past.

The death of Thomas Valva at the hands of his caregivers was an unspeakable crime. The horrors that child was subjected to were unparalleled in depravity. The father and his former fiancee were appropriately convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, at the sentencing of Angela Pollina, Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei made comments beneath the dignity of his office. Mazzei gratuitously grandstanded by "regretting" that Pollina would not spend the rest of her life in prison in a garage with no heat or bedding, the circumstances in which she forced Thomas to sleep, reportedly drawing applause in the courtroom!

Judges are supposed to gain the community's respect by presiding impartially and dispassionately. If a prosecutor in Judge Mazzei's court were to make such an outlandish statement, I would expect some discipline to result. Where does one go for discipline when the judge is the culprit? Where does one go for justice if the judge's inflammatory remarks cause an inmate to exact some "in house" vengeance in the future? What is it telling the public when even a judge cannot follow the law?

More recently, 14-year-olds Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein were allegedly killed by a drunken driver, Amandeep Singh. If true, Singh deserves to be convicted of the highest provable crime and sentenced to a commensurate time in prison. Despite the well-known presumption of innocence accorded the accused in every criminal case, Rabbi Michael White of Temple Sinai of Roslyn told the press, "We're gonna shut this courthouse down until justice is served."

How are they going to "shut the courthouse down?" What type of justice are they seeking? And what will they do if the prosecutor, judge or even one juror does not agree with the community's version of justice? Although the deaths of these two bright lights are senseless and cruel, is advocating for the community to prejudge a case before the facts are known and using mob intimidation to obtain the desired result the type of responsible spiritual guidance expected of a member of the clergy?

I was a prosecutor for 30 years and have been teaching future prosecutors for 14 years. I have always valued the criminal justice system as the best way to resolve our disputes and hold people accountable for what they have done with reason and objectivity. If our leaders fail to support the system and use rhetoric beneath the dignity of their positions for their own purposes, then our leaders have failed us. We deserve better than that.