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Incumbent Westchester County DA Loses Seat After Fallout From Mount Vernon Police Tapes
By
George Joseph
Published Jul 16, 2020
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By
George Joseph
Published Jul 16, 2020
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Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino has conceded defeat in last month's primary against Democratic Party challenger Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor.
“It has been my distinct honor to serve as District Attorney and I am grateful to the people of Westchester for affording me the opportunity to do so since 2017,” Scarpino said in a statement. “I am extraordinarily proud of the public servants in the District Attorney’s Office who dedicate every day to create a safer, more just County for all.”
On election night, Rocah took home more than 68 percent of the in-person votes, and continued to dominate the absentee vote share in the subsequent weeks, prompting Scarpino’s concession.
“I am grateful to every voter for making their voice heard during this pandemic,” Rocah said. “This result is a strong mandate from voters — they want change in Westchester’s criminal justice system as our nation reckons with police misconduct, demands greater accountability and ethics reform at all levels of government.”
The race was expected to be tight, but in the final weeks of the campaign Rocah hammered the incumbent over his office’s handling of secret recordings made by a whistleblower cop in Mount Vernon.
The recordings, first published by Gothamist/WNYC in June, contained detailed allegations of police officers framing innocent civilians and collaborating inappropriately with drug dealers.
The DA’s office received several of those recordings last year, but continued to quietly prosecute defendants arrested by the officers, without informing the defendants of the allegations. The whistleblower also recorded a meeting with an official from the DA’s office that suggested the agency did not conduct basic research into the allegations months after receiving the tapes.
Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor, defeated incumbent Anthony Scarpino in the Westchester County Democratic Primary.
Mimi Rocah, Democrat for Westchester DA
In November, Rocah will face off against Bruce Bendish, a Republican attorney in the general election. Registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans almost two to one in Westchester County. If elected, Rocah said she will launch her own probe into the Mount Vernon police corruption allegations.
“We will work as hard as possible to make sure this case is finally investigated thoroughly and efficiently to make sure no one was wrongly convicted based on real misconduct by any police officer or police department,” she said.
Scarpino’s campaign did not respond to Gothamist/WNYC’s question about how his office plans to handle the corruption allegations during the remainder of his term.
This piece is part of an ongoing series on police corruption allegations in Mount Vernon, New York and Westchester County. If you have a tip about a prosecutor's office, a law enforcement agency or the courts, email reporter George Joseph at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, Twitter@georgejoseph94, and Instagram @georgejoseph81. You can also text or call him with tips at 929-486-4865. He is also on the encrypted phone app Signal with the same phone number.
Tagged
corruption
mount vernon
Westchester DA
George Joseph
George covers Brooklyn for THE CITY with a focus on criminal justice and housing. He previously worked for WNYC and Gothamist, and has published stories with NPR, ProPublica, Esquire, and The Intercept among other outlets.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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