Zeldin approves of outcome in vet assault case
David Jakubonis, left, brandishes a sharp object as he attacks U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, right, in upstate Perinton, on July 21, 2022, when Zeldin was campaigning as the Republican candidate for governor. Credit: AP
Daily Point
An epilogue to a bizarre 2022 campaign incident
Probably the most bizarre moment of the 2022 gubernatorial campaign occurred when an inebriated 44-year-old U.S. Army veteran accosted Rep. Lee Zeldin, then running for governor. The assailant, David Jakubonis, was visibly holding a keychain with sharp points. The two struggled. Jakubonis pulled the then-congressman to the floor of a makeshift stage that had been set up for a Zeldin rally near Rochester, before being subdued and arrested.
Last month, nearly a year-and-a-half after the episode, Jakubonis was sentenced to 3 years’ probation. He had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assaulting a federal officer. A judge had previously ordered Jakubonis of upstate Fairport released from jail to an alcohol treatment program.
Jakubonis’ veteran status became unusually relevant to discussion of the incident. He was deployed to Iraq in 2009 as a medical lab technician. Zeldin, of Shirley, who ran strongly but unsuccessfully against Gov. Kathy Hochul, had not merely been the victim in the criminal case but had also been an Army reservist who served in Iraq. He’s been active ever since on veterans’ issues.
Zeldin spokesman Daniel Gall told The Point: “Congressman Zeldin kept track of the case, and the prosecutors at the state and federal level kept him frequently informed of updates. As Jakubonis worked hard to get his life together and actively sought treatment and significant self-improvement, Zeldin supported a misdemeanor plea deal for a fellow veteran instead of a felony.”
“While they have not spoken directly, Congressman Zeldin is happy to see Jakubonis successfully access the resources needed to make significant positive changes to his life,” Gall added.
As an elected official, Zeldin kept vets’ concerns in the limelight. He initiated the Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Peer Support Project, offering support services at various levels of government. Dwyer, a Manhasset native, was an Army combat medic in the Iraq War whose fight with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning was cited as the cause of his death at 32.
In a New Hampshire rally speech last week for Donald Trump, Zeldin cited concern for “our veterans” and “our military” as among the reasons to support the former president’s return to the White House.
Jakubonis’ lawyer told The Associated Press after the sentencing that his client was “found permanently disabled from his service … I believe those circumstances together with the support of former Congressman Zeldin and the criminal justice system got this disposition perfectly right.”
— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com
Pencil Point
After the leader
Credit: PoliticalCartoons.com/Dave Granlund
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Final Point
Chief judge's former law firm takes his name off its website
New York’s chief judge no longer has a special place on the website of his old law firm. And that’s a good thing, say legal ethics experts.
“I’m sure it came down because it shouldn’t have been there,” said Theo Liebmann, a Hofstra University law school professor and executive director of its Monroe H. Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics. “There’s no indication they did it to influence people. But removing it was the right thing to do.”
In December, The Point reported that a website run by a prestigious Manhattan law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, had a page devoted to its ties to Rowan D. Wilson, who joined the New York State Court of Appeals in 2017 and became chief judge in April.
The website page said Wilson was a retired partner and posted a telephone number for him that is the firm’s main number. It also listed Wilson’s credentials, and a handy downloadable VCard, along with news items about Wilson’s time on the top bench.
At that time, ethics experts questioned the appropriateness of the judge’s mention on Cravath’s website and pointed to state rules saying a judge should not “convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge.”
When asked by The Point last month about his appearance on Cravath’s website, Wilson said he was “unaware that the firm lists a phone number for me” and said he’s had nothing to do with Cravath since joining the bench. But it wasn’t clear whether the state judge would ask Cravath to remove his name. As Wilson told The Point: “I don’t think I have any right to tell Cravath or Wikipedia not to mention it.”
Now, a month later, the website mention of Wilson with the attached telephone number to the law firm is gone. The Point sought comment from both Cravath and Judge Wilson about the website page removal but neither responded.
Nevertheless, Hofstra’s Liebmann says it’s good that Wilson’s mention has been scrubbed from the website. “Judges’ decisions need to be respected and it’s important that people feel they [judges] are impartial,” he said.
— Thomas Maier Thomas.Maier@newsday.com
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