DA: I’ll clean house in sex crimes unit
Division is notorious for mishandling cases
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is looking for a new captain to lead the office’s troubled sex crimes unit, which has been slammed by abuse victims as dysfunctional and unsympathetic.
“We want a real leader in the space who’s got deep expertise,” Bragg told the Daily News in an interview. “A person who knows how to build this kind of case, knows what it looks like in the courtroom, knows the rules of evidence, all of those key lawyering skills, but also knows the core of humanity.”
The new hire will have their work cut out for them.
In 2021, 563 misdemeanor and felony sex crimes were arraigned in Manhattan, according to data shared with The News. Before the pandemic, in 2019, the sex crimes unit handled 752 misdemeanor and felony sex crimes.
The sex crimes unit’s standing among abuse survivors requires rehabilitation, Bragg acknowledged. The handling of several prominent cases under Bragg’s predecessor, Cy Vance Jr., continues to dog the office.
Marissa Hoechstetter’s first interaction with the DA’s office was in 2011 when she came forward as one of the first women to accuse ex-Columbia University Dr. Robert Hadden of assaulting her during a gynecology exam after the birth of her twin daughters.
“I knew I was telling the truth and that this was a place that was going to help me. I thought I would be able to help prevent a serial perpetrator from harming others,” said Hoechstetter.
But Hoechstetter was outraged when Hadden pleaded guilty to criminal sex act in the third degree and forcible touching on Feb. 24, 2016, for abusing two women on the exam table. He admitted the assaults served “no valid medical purpose” in a no-jail plea deal.
The slap on the wrist required Hadden to relinquish his medical license and register as a level one sex offender — the lowest possible risk rating.
More than 200 women have since come forward to say Hadden abused them under the guise of medical care over his 30-year career at the helm of Columbia and New York-Presbyterian’s obstetrics and gynecology unit. He’s now awaiting trial on similar federal charges and has pleaded not guilty.
“Unfortunately, my case is not particularly unique,” said Hoechstetter, who advised Bragg as a member of his transition team.
“You also see lots of survivors coming out of that office who are dissuaded from moving forward, who see resolutions that are unsatisfactory to them, who are interrogated as though the assumption is that they’re not telling the truth.”
Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein are two other notorious sexual predators who critics say were mishandled by the sex crimes unit.
In January 2011, one of Vance’s prosecutors argued for Epstein’s sex offender status to be reduced from level three to one. Vance’s team excused the assistant district attorney’s request to ease restrictions on the notorious child sex abuser as “an incorrect interpretation of the statute.”
Before the unit secured Weinstein’s 23-year conviction on sexual assault and rape charges in March 2020, it declined to prosecute the producer for alleged abuse of Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. An NYPD wiretap recording of the disgraced Hollywood bigshot admitting to groping Gutierrez wasn’t enough to convince prosecutors they had a case.
According to NYPD data, most rape and sexual assault reports are not solved. The majority of sex crimes occuring in the U.S. are not reported at all, research shows.
Bragg said he wants to change that by including survivors’ voices “within the walls of the DA’s office” and by working with the NYPD to foster an environment where victims of assault feel heard.
“The starting premise is that the person is coming forward and telling the truth — not unduly challenging someone,” said Bragg. “So we can help ensure the entire process is not redundant in a way that is triggering or is further trauma-inducing.”
The new boss of the sex crimes unit will also have to improve staff morale. The office couldn’t provide figures on recent turnover, but sources said prosecutors have left the DA’s office by the dozens since last year — many of them from the sex crimes unit.
The division includes five attorneys who supervise 50 to 60 specially trained assistant district attorneys from the office’s trial division.
“In terms of staff morale, this is going to be a key issue,” said Bragg.
“This is challenging work, arguably the most challenging work there is.”