By Hank Russell
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney shot back at Governor Kathy Hochul, who accused the Suffolk DA’s office of mishandling the case in which four people were arrested for tampering with and concealing the human remains of two people that were found in three separate locations.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, Suffolk Homicide Squad detectives charged Steven Brown, 44; Jeffrey Mackey, 38; and Amanda Wallace, 40, all of 25 Railroad Avenue in Amityville, and Alexis Nieves, 33, who is homeless, with first-degree hindering prosecution, tampering with physical evidence and concealment of a human corpse. The remains of a 59-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man were found in Babylon, West Babylon and Bethpage.
On March 7, Hochul appeared on FOX 5’s Good Day New York. Host Rosanna Scotto pointed out that the accused were brought in for processing, only to be let out because the crimes were not bail-eligible and that the GOP state legislators said the four were let go because of bail reform. (This starts at the 8:06 mark.)
“Maybe the DA should have done a more thorough investigation and brought murder charges — or conspiracy to commit murder — or even assault charges, because all of them are bail-eligible.” Hochul replied. “Maybe they brought [the case] a little early.”
In response, Tierney said Hochul is “either absolutely clueless or being deceitful about how the criminal justice system works.” He praised the efforts of Suffolk County Police Homicide detectives for “working 24-7 on this case,” calling them “the best in the country. … For the governor to criticize the efforts of these detectives without knowing any of the facts in defense of a broken bail system is both baffling and indefensible.”
Hochul encouraged Tierney to “go back and build [his] case,” adding “If you bring those charges, which I think are appropriate, they are absolutely bail-eligible.”
Tierney emphasized that law enforcement “did the right thing” because they had “enough evidence to arrest these defendants for serious felonies.
“The governor’s platform on public safety is laughably inadequate and she should know enough not to comment on ongoing investigations,” he continued.”It would be helpful if the governor confined her comments to subjects that she knows something about.”
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to Hochul’s office regarding Tierney’s remarks. Her office provided a transcript of her appearance on PIX 11 Morning News on March 8. In addressing Tierney’s demand to put the dangerousness clause back in the books, Hochul replied, “The standard changed just a few months ago … and instead of the standard of dangerousness, we ask the judges now to look at a whole body of evidence. When you think about it, dangerousness is a subjective standard. That’s why it was removed from the law.”
She also seemed to backtrack her comments from the previous day. “I know the Suffolk County Police Department is working so hard to get to the bottom of this, as is the DA,” she said. “So, when partial evidence comes up, I do think that there’ll be opportunities for them to bring their case.”