Political Earthquake: Luthmann's Revelations Rock Brooklyn’s Judicial Elite!
Is Judge Donald Leo A Political Hack That Has It Out For Blacks?
By Dick LaFontaine
Last November, Richard Luthmann sent a lawsuit for filing in New York County Supreme Court.
Luthmann, a contributor to this publication, has launched a fiery crusade challenging the very pillars of New York State's justice system. What he terms "crooked" practices has brought courtroom drama to the public eye and raised profound questions about the justice system’s integrity and what happens when prosecutorial conduct becomes criminal.
Luthmann’s legal complaint includes a list of individuals who may serve as potential witnesses in this complex and far-reaching case. New developments have added additional wrinkles.
The former New York lawyer and now an investigative reporter and contributor to this publication also seeks to have his “Fake Facebook” conviction overturned for these same reasons: the criminal conduct of prosecutors.
This week, Brooklyn Judge Donald Leo denied his motion in a move Luthmann calls “inexplicable.”
Luthmann fired back and said Donald Leo was a “Political Hack” whose decisions show he “has it out for Blacks.”
New Witness: “Political Hack” Judge Donald Leo?
Luthmann says he wants to subpoena Brooklyn Judge Donald Leo to see whether he was approached to rule a certain way on his case. His allegations are severe and unparalleled. He accuses Staten Island Special District Attorney Eric Nelson of egregious misconduct in pursuing a conviction. He asserts the indictment is fatally defective and that Nelson’s criminal activity renders the entire indictment and prosecution process a violation of due process.
Luthmann says Leo inexplicably defended Nelson and was “tainted” by his political and judicial aspirations and urging from the McMahons. Luthmann claims the appearance of impropriety is too much for an already beleaguered New York State Justice System to handle.
On January 17, 2024, Judge Leo, a 2015 DeBlasio appointee, denied Luthmann’s motion to vacate the conviction. Luthmann disagreed.
Judge Leo Ignores the Special Prosecutor’s Overwhelming Felony Misconduct
Luthmann specifically targeted the relationship between Nelson and Perry Reich, a disbarred attorney and felon who served federal time, alleging a deep-seated conspiracy aimed at securing his indictment. Luthmann submitted actual emails to the Court in affidavit form proving the crime of Unauthorized Practice of Law. Nelson conceded the emails in his affidavits were genuine.
“What we had was a prosecutor, Eric Nelson, knowingly engaging with a disbarred felon to manipulate legal proceedings and committing a felony himself. Now, we have a Judge with political aspirations looking the other way. And as any former prosecutor knows, if he received a political benefit to do so, he’s now a co-conspirator in this felony fraud on the Criminal Justice System,” the former lawyer said.
Luthmann says an email dated August 12, 2018, between Nelson and Reich is a “smoking gun” and clear evidence of a felony. “It’s felony conspiracy to undermine the grand jury’s understanding of my constitutional rights and spitshine bullshit claims into an indictment,” Luthmann stated. “What prosecutor commits crimes to get someone if they don’t have to?”
Luthmann said Judge Leo is part of a more significant systemic problem.
Is Judge Donald Leo a Political Hack?
Luthmann says Judge Donald Leo is a “crooked politician in black robes.”
“Judge Donald Leo just proved to the world that Donald J. Trump is right, yet again. The New York State Justice System is full of political hacks. Leo shows he has no backbone or taste to recognize criminal prosecutorial misconduct and succumbed to the ‘go along to get along’ policy of corrupt politicians, prosecutors, and judges,” he said.
"It’s a mode of proceeding error and due process violation that I can always challenge because it goes to subject matter jurisdiction and the competency of the Court to rule. Nelson made a disbarred felon, the legal advisor of the People of the State of New York. He committed a felony," Luthmann charged. “It’s like Judge Leo didn’t read the papers or hear a word I said at oral argument. Based on the evidence, I believe a phone call came in from the McMahons, and the fix was in.”
Luthmann says Judge Leo, a 2015 Bill DeBlasio appointee and a creature of the Brooklyn Democratic Party machine, has a personal, political interest in “wholesale ignoring the law and the facts,” he should have recused himself.
“Judge Leo and I say, Judge, not Justice, is flat wrong about everything. He’s proved he’s an OCA' company man.’ That he could so brazenly lie about his political and judicial aspirations is stunning. He ruled and then scurried from the bench like a little weasel. Of course, I intend to appeal,” Luthmann said.
Luthmann said Judge Leo had an “interest” in dismissing his case because Leo wants to “get made” as a “full-fledged” Supreme Court Justice with a 14-year term.”
In his opinion, Judge Leo denied the charges:
With full transparency, [the] Court regretfully disappoints the defendant in pointing out that it has never indicated any political aspirations nor harbored any ambitions past its current position of Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court. Assuming arguendo these goals exist, the record is devoid of any facts that this Court cannot promote “public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary” by adjudicating this matter. Withholding all of the suppositions of the defendant, the Court asserts its ability to fairly and impartially decide this matter and finds no basis for disqualification of the Court by reason of interest or consanguinity. McKinney's Judiciary Law §14.
But not everyone thinks that Judge Leo’s decision is justified. Some believe Leo has a pattern of playing politics to advance his judicial aspirations.
A Politician On The Bench?
A prominent Manhattan Democratic Political Consultant speaking under conditions of anonymity said the statements in Leo’s decision were “unadulterated bullshit.”
“Everyone knows that the judicial nominations process in New York State is purely political. I can’t think of an ‘independent’ legal mind that found their way onto the bench without paying homage. And Donald Leo is no different. He’s been campaigning to become a Supreme Court Justice since DeBlasio appointed him. He begged the old Brooklyn Leader [Frank Seddio] for a Supreme Court ballot spot almost as soon as DeBlasio appointed him,” the source said.
The source pointed out that Donald Leo needs all the friends he can get, given the current climate of Brooklyn Democratic Party Politics.
“It’s not the same party as in 2015 when he was appointed. Leo probably just solidified the support of the sitting Staten Island DA and his allies, which isn’t insignificant.
While Brooklyn progressives are “less than lukewarm” about Leo, a former prosecutor from South Brooklyn with a clear track record of disproportionately harsher punishments for Black men, he may have found new political backing to propel him to full-fledge Supreme Court Justice status.
“The Brooklyn Conservatives are all in South Brooklyn. Mike Long had his liquor store there for years. Many are ‘overzealous’ about law and order, to the extent they revel in a judge that will ‘lock them up and throw away the key.’ That philosophy doesn't play well with the Democrats’ progressive leadership. And add to that Kassar’s animus towards Luthmann.” the source said.
Luthmann’s filed court documents name Kassar as a potential witness.
“Mr. Luthmann will call NYS Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar to document how patronage, grift, and envelopes are passed around in the New York State electoral and political processes, including in the election for Supreme Court Justice. ‘Pompous’ Jerry Kassar has been at the heart of the grift for four decades, and nobody likes him. He is also a fact witness because of his tweet on November 6, 2017. Kassar knew about the ‘secret’ federal grand jury investigation into Mr. Luthmann, probably having been told by Team McMahon, who engineered it,” the papers say.
Luthmann said Kassar was part of a political Cabal looking for a “trap door” for him back in 2016 and 2017.
“I have plenty of evidence against Jerry Kassar and his improprieties, well beyond a few tweets. He’s been a human hemorrhoid in politics for the last 40 years. Much of it is from him because he has diarrhea of the mouth. He can’t help himself. Check out what he wrote in the Brooklyn Reporter on September 11, 2017,” Luthmann said.
On September 11, 2017, Kassar published an opinion piece called “Common Sense: Fake news.” In it, he called for Luthmann’s prosecution for “Fake Facebook” a year before a grand jury was impaneled and almost 15 months before the indictment was released. Kassar wrote:
A very important precedent could be set with this investigation and possible prosecution. The purveyors of fake Facebook accounts are rarely subjected to any penalties besides being removed from Facebook.
If the Facebook account is masquerading as someone, it is identity theft. It should subject the creator of the account to charges under the existing identity theft criminal and civil statutes.
Luthmann says Kassar knew “too much too early.” He said, “That’s what’s going to do him in. He was privy to secret information from inside a federal grand jury room months before the news became public? How? The only leaky seals are law enforcement, and if we have liars and leakers in our government committing crimes, the public has a right to know, and I have a right to those facts to prove the concerted actions against me.”
Luthmann has alleged a connection between his prosecutions in state and federal court and a corrupt deal between Kassar, Staten Island DA Mike McMahon, Ron Castorina, now a Supreme Court Justice, and others for some time.
Appointment of Incompetent Special Staten Island District Attorney Eric Nelson in Richard Luthmann's Case Was DA Michael McMahon's Design?
“Kassar had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to put the maloich on me because I was the Law Chair of the NYS Reform Party at the time. Curtis Sliwa was the leader, and we didn’t take patronage and grift. All Kassar has known how to do his entire political career was take in patronage and grift, and the Reform Party was cutting in on his business model because qualified candidates could get our ballot line for free,” Luthmann said.
Luthmann says Kassar joined forces with Staten Island DA Mike McMahon and “his minions” because Luthmann had evidence that Judy McMahon, the DA’s wife, was engaged in warrant steering that disproportionately landed black defendants in prison.
“They had to survive the Pulizotto tapes where Judge Judy McMahon was steering warrants to land mostly black folks in jail to pad Mike's conviction stats. It's the same establishment Democrat KKK Party as it's always been. Now they just incarcerate the black man to make the white politicians feel good instead of lynching them,” Luthmann stated, using this comparison to highlight what he sees as systemic and racial injustices perpetuated by the current legal system.
“The crooked have always subjugated large swaths of the population. Blacks have taken the largest hit historically in this country. Today, we have crooked cops and prosecutors like Mike McMahon and Eric Nelson and crooked judges like Judy McMahon and Ronald Castorina co-signing on this program. Donald Leo is both. A crooked former prosecutor and a ‘go along to get along’ judge, Leo’s words, like his recent decision, will say one thing, but his actions tell a whole different story,” Luthmann said.
Does Judge Donald Leo Have It Out For Blacks?
Brooklyn progressives are “less than lukewarm” about Leo, a former prosecutor from South Brooklyn with a clear track record of disproportionately harsher punishments for Black men, whom he’s made unjustifiable examples of to further his political and judicial aspirations.
The question must be asked: Is Donald Leo destroying Black men’s futures to propel his own? We look at some notable cases.
The James Vincent Case
A Brooklyn Criminal Defense Attorney and activist speaking under conditions of anonymity confirmed these sentiments.
“Whether it’s true or not, there’s a perception that Judge Leo panders to certain ‘communities.’ His sentencing is not always uniform or fair. For example, he sentenced James Vincent to over a decade in prison for what others would have received far less for in an assault case. [DA Eric] Gonzalez got on the ‘hate crime’ bandwagon to appease political forces, and Leo had no desire to apply the law and the facts or stop that political train charged with racial dynamics. But that’s what good judges do,” the attorney said.
In a controversial decision that has raised questions about the fairness of hate crime sentencing, Leo imposed an 11-year prison sentence on James Vincent, a 44-year-old Black man, for assaulting Menachem Moskowitz, a Jewish resident of Crown Heights.
This ruling, backed by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, appears to reflect a broader political agenda rather than justice, as it aggressively applies the hate crime label in a case where the punishment seems disproportionately severe.
The incident, which occurred in 2018, involved Vincent assaulting Moskowitz near Rutland Road and East 46th Street in East Flatbush. Vincent's outburst included the statement, "You Jews took my house and mortgage." At sentencing, Judge Leo seized upon the remark as showing the crime was motivated by antisemitism.
While the physical assault on Moskowitz, involving strangulation and punching, was unquestionably serious, the severity of Vincent's sentence raises concerns about whether the hate crime designation was used to excessively amplify the punishment.
Critics might argue that Judge Leo's and DA Gonzalez's decision to weigh the hate crime aspect heavily seems to overshadow the individual circumstances of the case. The 11-year sentence, handed down for a crime that resulted in non-permanent injuries, stands in stark contrast to other assault cases, suggesting a possible overreach in the application of hate crime laws involving particular populations.
“James Vincent wasn’t a gang-banger. He wasn’t slinging dope. He’s a guy who lost his house and snapped because of a bad economy under Trump in 2018. Judge Leo used high-profile cases to make a statement against hate crimes, against the Jewish population, at the expense of proportionate sentencing and where the facts just don’t fit,” the attorney source said.
Rapper James Thomas AKA “Mousey Baby”
In a February 2019 ruling, controversy and accusations of political motivations surrounded Judge Leo’s sentencing of Brooklyn rapper James Thomas, also known as “Mousey Baby.” Leo sentenced Thomas, a 34-year-old Black man, to a lengthy 21-year prison term for a series of assaults near a Bedford-Stuyvesant LGBTQ nightclub.
This severe sentencing decision drew criticism, with some suggesting that Judge Leo and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez are using hate crime charges for political leverage, a concern echoing the sentiments raised in the similar case of James Vincent.
The charges against Thomas initially included hate crimes. However, these were dropped due to a lack of supporting evidence from the grand jury and the refusal of a key witness to testify. Judge Leo's resultant sentence was notably harsh despite the legal and factual significance of the hate crime charges being abandoned.
Thomas’ lawyer emphasized his client didn’t deserve to lose his life to the system. With his consistent court appearances, respectful demeanor, and support from family and friends, along with his modest success as a rapper, Judge Leo’s decades-long sentence on a Black man who hadn’t killed anyone remained unmitigated.
Brooklyn District Attorney Gonzalez highlighted the violence of the attacks and the need to protect the Brooklyn community, which some interpret as aligning with broader political objectives, particularly appealing to the LGBTQ community. Judge Leo’s sentence was a co-signing.
This approach mirrors the treatment in James Vincent's case, where Judge Leo's 11-year sentence for an assault on a Jewish man raised eyebrows over its severity, speculated by some as a move to curry favor with the Jewish community.
Ridhwaan Abdur Rashid
In a recent ruling that has intensified scrutiny over his judicial decisions in Brooklyn, Judge Leo sentenced Ridhwaan Abdur Rashid, a Black man from Prospect-Lefferts Gardens to a 12-year prison term following a shooting that caused minor injuries to two NYPD officers. This November 2023 sentencing, along with the mandate for five years of post-release supervision, has been criticized as excessively harsh, adding to the growing narrative of Judge Leo's rulings disproportionately impacting Black men.
The incident, dating back to March 7, 2021, involved Rashid firing at NYPD officers from the 71st Precinct, who were responding to a 911 call at 42 Hawthorne Street. The shooting resulted in minor injuries to the officers, with Police Officer Robert Aviles struck in his bulletproof vest and Officer Jonathan Landro sustaining a leg injury. Both officers, along with Rashid's roommate Damon Lindsay, who was also involved in the incident, were treated and released from Kings County Hospital.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez's statement following the sentencing emphasized the importance of protecting law enforcement, stating, "We will never allow violence against law enforcement here in Brooklyn."
This stance, alongside Judge Leo's decision, has been perceived as aligning with the interests of the NYPD and law enforcement unions, possibly at the expense of fair sentencing for Black men.
This case, when viewed alongside the sentences given to James Vincent and James Thomas in previous cases overseen by Judge Leo, raises concerns about a pattern of harsh penalties for Black men. Critics argue that these decisions reflect a severe approach to justice and suggest a political agenda. The pattern of these rulings is consistently disadvantageous to Black defendants.
Is Donald Leo Lying When He Says He Has “No Ambitions”?
These judicial decisions, especially in severity, have led to speculation about Donald Leo's potential ambitions for a Supreme Court nomination, possibly supported by different factions within the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
To be clear, Judge Leo wrote that he “has never indicated any political aspirations nor harbored any ambitions past [his] current position of Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court.
But there is a perception of politically-motivated judicial overreach. When viewed with the Thomas and Vincent cases, these incidents raise serious questions about the balance of justice and potential political maneuvering in Brooklyn's Criminal Justice system, particularly under Judge Leo's stewardship.
But several reliable political insiders say otherwise. His decisions on the bench also point to judicial ambition. What explains all of this?
“Either he’s schizophrenic, or he’s crooked,” Luthmann said. He continued, “And it sounds like he’s closer to arguing over the meaning of the word ‘is.’ After a decade of jockeying, he’ll get nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice and be like, ‘I’d never considered it, but if the people want it, who am I to deprive them?’ It’s a crock of shit. Every priest looks in the mirror and sees a Pope.”
Luthmann says the proof is in the pudding, and others tend to agree. A Bedford-Stuyvesant community activist and supporter of James Thomas spoke under condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“Ain’t nobody buying the shit [Judge Leo] is selling. He throws decs [decades] at niggas for a living. It makes perfect sense that he’s a shyster judge. He still thinks he’s police. He was an ADA,” The source said. He continued, “You can’t be a cop and be pro [Black] community. It ain’t ever going to work. He’s made his position clear.”
Another Brooklyn community source, speaking under the same conditions of anonymity, didn’t have anything nice to say about Judge Leo and racial tensions overall.
“Shit ain’t never been right with the [Asians] for like twenty years. They come in with all the money and then look down on you. I bet this guy is against the liberation of Palestine, too. The [Asians] and the [Jews] done ruined everything around here,” the source said.
“Leo may have a problem now with the Black community because he’s seen as so pro-prosecution. And this problem isn’t one that playing the ‘Asian card’ is going to solve. That’s not currency. There are plenty of fair and even-keeled Asian judges that are more palatable choices for the Supreme Court, and some of them are women,” said another Brooklyn insider.
Brooklyn-based Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar did not return a request for comment as of press time.
We inquired with Lucien Chalfen of the New York State Office of Court Administration, the press representative for the courts. We asked whether Judge Donald Leo had aspirations to become an elected Supreme Court Justice through the Brooklyn Democratic Party nominating process. No response was received as of press time.
Other Witnesses With Brooklyn Ties
Luthmann lists additional potential witnesses with ties to Brooklyn:
Diane Savino is the special assistant to NYC Mayor Eric Adams and a former state senator from Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Scott Levenson is a Democratic Political Consultant, Principal of The Advance Group, and Advisor to several Brooklyn Politicians.
Michael Ryan, Attorney, and NYC Board of Elections Executive Director
Howard Graubard, Attorney and Political Advisor
Bruce Baron, Union and Personal Attorney for Dennis Quirk
Dennis Quirk, former union boss; DA Joe Hines, and DA Mike McMahon, loyalists. Accused racist.
Curtis Sliwa is a media personality, Guardian Angels founder, former NYS Reform Party Chair, and NYC Republican mayoral candidate.
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