For more than 20 years, Michael Vecchione
served as one of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles “Joe” Hynes’ top
lieutenants, taking on some of the office’s most controversial cases. Earlier
this week, he filed his retirement papers, bringing his career as a prosecutor to
a close.

His departure comes on the heels of two resounding electoral
defeats for Hynes, both by former federal prosecutor Kenneth Thompson. Hynes
lost in the Democratic primary in September and again in the general election
earlier this month, when he ran as a Republican. Hynes is scheduled to cede the
office to Thompson on December 31.

For much of Hynes’ tenure, Vecchione
was by his side, running the most powerful divisions of the office, first as
chief of homicide in 1992 and later taking over the rackets division in 2001.

Vecchione often prosecuted the
office’s most high-profile cases. He earned a reputation as an effective trial
attorney, but was sometimes criticized by judges, defense lawyers and former
colleagues as being willing to bend ethics rules to win convictions. He’s
leaving the office before Thompson can follow through on a pledge to fire him
come January.

Earlier this year, ProPublica chronicled
Vecchione’s career, finding that he was at the
center of some of the office’s most embarrassing scandals. In 2007, Vecchione tried to bring a murder conspiracy case against a
former FBI agent, but it imploded when the court learned that a star witness
had given inconsistent accounts of the murder accusations. In 2003, the
Brooklyn District Attorney’s office agreed
to release a man it believed responsible for multiple murders after it came
to light that Vecchione withheld evidence in the
man’s original trial. Last year, a member of Vecchione’s
sex trafficking unit resigned following accusations that she withheld a
victim’s recantation in a rape case.

But he’s perhaps best-known for his involvement in the
wrongful conviction of Jabbar Collins, a Brooklyn man
who served 16 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Collins is now
suing the city for $150 million, accusing Vecchione
of coercing witnesses, withholding evidence and suborning perjury at his trial
in 1995.

In 2010, Federal Judge Dora Irizarry issued a withering
rebuke of Vecchione’s conduct in the case, saying it
was “beyond disappointing” in a decision to toss Collins’ conviction.

“It is really sad that the D.A.’s office persists in
standing firm and saying they did nothing wrong here,” Irizarry said.

In June, Vecchione was forced to give
sworn testimony about his conduct in the case. He offered little in the way
of explanation; instead, he answered questions with some version of “I don’t
recall” 324 times. The second part of his deposition is tentatively scheduled
for January.

In the face of all this criticism, Hynes has consistently defended
Vecchione, calling him a “very principled” lawyer at a press conference
following Irizarry’s opinion.

Hynes also allowed Vecchione to
represent the office as a key character in the CBS reality show “Brooklyn DA,”
which aired earlier this year.

Neither Vecchione nor the Brooklyn
DA’s office immediately responded to calls for comment. If they do, we’ll
update this story.







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