Thomas Spota, after 16 years as Suffolk County DA , stepping down amid federal charges accusing him of covering up an assault by a disgraced police chief

Veteran District Attorney for Suffolk County in Long Island, NY, Thomas Spota, Wednesday announced that he is stepping down amid federal charges accusing him of covering up an assault by a disgraced police chief.
Spota made the announcement a day after he was indicted for intimidating witnesses in a federal civil rights investigation into ex-Suffolk County top cop James Burke.
“I will be leaving my post as District Attorney at the earliest opportunity after the resolution of normal administrative matters relating to my retirement,” Spota said in a statement. “The Governor will be notified of my decision today.”
The 76-year-old Spota, who held the role for 16 years, was not seeking re-election.
The longtime Suffolk County District Attorney and one of his chief aides on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, were indicted on federal charges that they were involved in a cover-up of former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke’s assault of a suspect in 2012

Spota, [center], and Christopher McPartland the chief of his anti-corruption bureau, have been indicted in the coverup

Federal prosecutors say the lawman abused his power and shamed his office by trying to sweep under the rug Burke’s alleged beatdown of a handcuffed suspect inside a Smithtown police precinct in 2012.
The beating victim, Christopher Loeb, was attacked after breaking into Burke’s police-issued SUV, and stole the police chief’s sex toys, a porn video, a gun belt, cigars and a humidor.
The former chief of the Suffolk County Police Department, James Burke, was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 46 months in 2016 for the Christopher Loeb beating.

Suffolk Countay DA, Thomas Spota was indicted for intimidating witnesses in a federal civil rights investigation into Suffolk County’s former police chief, James Burke, [Center]

After a duffel bag containing pornography and sex toys was stolen from Police Chief James Burke’s [right], parked SUV, Christopher Loeb [left], was brought to a station house and shackled to the floor of an interrogation room and beaten.

Spota and Christopher McPartland, 51, the chief of his anti-corruption bureau, engaged in a coordinated campaign to quash the case by pressuring witnesses from cooperating with the feds, according to federal prosecutors.
Both entered not guilty pleas and posted $500,000 bail on Wednesday.
Spota’s lawyer, Alan Vinegrad, said outside of court that his client “committed no crime” and “looks forward to vindicating himself in court.”
In his statement, Spota said chief assistant district attorney Emily Constant will take over his role.