Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson passed away today at the age of 50 and as result the City of NY – no, the United States of America – lost one of the greatest champions of the wrongfully convicted. Ken was a sharp, brilliant lawyer who went from the US Attorney’s Office to leading a successful and prominent law firm to being the chief law enforcement officer of Kings County, New York. He ran a tough campaign against a long-standing, politically powerful, incumbent District Attorney named Charles Hynes. And he ran it on the promise of cleaning up some of Hynes’ mess. He became the first public official I can ever recall who won an election promising reform and an increased attention to the plight of the innocent people who are serving jail time.
I had worked on the case of David McCallum and Willie Stuckey for ten years. I had presented a plethora of evidence of their innocence to Hynes’ Conviction Integrity Unit – a one lawyer one investigator operation at the time. It all fell on deaf ears. Time after time our plea for a review of the case went nowhere. Our team was told to come back when we had figured out who actually committed the crime. When I pointed out that I thought that was the DA’s job and that our job was just to establish our clients’ innocence, I was told not to bother them any more. And then Ken was elected. I had known Ken from his days in private practice and were actually adversaries on a very high-profile matter involving my client David Johnson, who was then a top aide to NY Governor David Patterson. While we were on opposite sides of the case and things got very volatile on several occasions, we built a mutual respect and admiration for each other that continued after the case ended. About a week after he won, I told him I was going to call him about a case that needed looking into. He said, “You got it. Call me in February when things settle down.” I told him Hynes had looked at it a few times but we were rejected. He said that did not matter to him and that he would take me at his word that the case needed attention and promised he would give it the attention it deserved. True to his word, he did and on October 15, 2014, I walked David McCallum out of jail after 29 years in jail for murder he didn’t commit. Willie Stuckey had already died in prison). David is now a free man, working at the NY Legal Aid Society and has just fathered a daughter, Quinn Nicole McCallum. Quinn would not be on the planet today with Ken and his CRU team.
At the press conference announcing David’s release, I was asked to say a few words. I pointed out that once a person got elected to the Office of District Attorney, they were bestowed the honorific of “Honorable.” Well Ken earned that title not just by election but the hard way, by being a man of principle and integrity. By being a man of his word. By being someone who understood that sometimes, the system does not get it right. That sometimes, the only people that can redress those wrongs are those that are working within the system. That acknowledging our system’s flaws and errors is not weakness or being “soft on crime” but instead is a reflection of intellect, reason and compassion. I will miss you my friend, but more importantly the criminal justice system will greatly miss you. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to your wife and children. May you rest in peace and may your legacy be a guidepost for future prosecutors everywhere.
One reply on “Death of a Champion”
Thanks for this heartfelt tribute, Oscar. The story began with Rubin and ended with Ken. David’s release was truly a miracle. Both men are gone but neither died in vain.