Charles J. Hynes (1935–2019)

Charles Aiken Joseph Hynes was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 28, 1935. He received bachelor's and law degrees at St. John's University. After several years with the Legal Aid Society and in private practice, he became an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn in 1969. In 1975, he was made a vis mere special prosecutor to pursue reports of fraud in the nursing home business and was later given expanded jurisdiction to include all programs receiving Medicaid funds. He served as the city's fire commissioner from 1980 to 1982. In 1985, he was named the special prosecutor for corruption in New York City's criminal justice system. After his success as a special state prosecutor in a 1986 racial attack on three black men in Howard Beach, he was elected Brooklyn district attorney in 1989. During his 24 years as the Brooklyn district attorney, he sent corrupt officials to jail, set up a separate bureau to deal with domestic violence, and initiated a program where nonviolent drug offenders were given opportunities for treatment instead of prison. He lost the office in 2013 amid controversies over wrongful murder convictions and his handling of pedophilia cases among ultra-Orthodox Jews. He wrote several books including Incident at Howard Beach: The Case for Murder written with Bob Drury and the novel Triple Homicide. He died on January 29, 2019 at the age of 83. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre