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Prisoner Accused of Plotting to Buy Gun, Kill N.Y. Judge
Saying there's 'no legitimacy to the threat,' defense attorney says DA's office is 'making a mountain out of a molehill'
New York Law Journal
July 30, 2008
A man jailed for failing to pay child support was arraigned Tuesday in Riverhead, N.Y., on charges that he conspired to buy a gun to kill the Suffolk County judge he claimed "gave his house away" to his ex-wife.
District Attorney Thomas J. Spota said at a news conference that Brian Orkiszewski, 49, "felt entitled to more" from the proceeds of the sale ordered by the judge identified by judicial sources as Supreme Court Justice William J. Kent III.
Prosecutors claimed in an unsealed indictment that Orkiszewski, while serving a sentence for contempt at the county's minimum security facility at Yaphank, N.Y., shopped around for a firearm for his "unlawful use against a Suffolk County judge." The indictment did not name the judge.
Orkiszewski of East Northport, N.Y., who was set to be released last week at the end of his 90-day sentence for contempt, was never let out of custody. Instead, he was rearrested on new charges of conspiracy and criminal solicitation in the fourth degree, felonies that carry a maximum prison sentence of four years.
Outside of court, Grandinette said his client was the victim of an "inmate looking to cut a deal for himself." He added that Orkiszewski had fallen on hard times after a bitter divorce from his wife, Lynda.
"As part of that divorce there was a support and maintenance order that he had to pay. My client fell down a fire escape on the job and is out on disability and can't make the payments," Grandinette said.
Once jailed, the attorney said that his client became "frustrated and jaded" and "made some stupid comment" to fellow inmates.
There is "no legitimacy to the threat" against Kent, he said, adding that the district attorney's office is "making a mountain out of a molehill."
However, at the press conference following the arraignment, Spota said Orkiszewski had told a few of his fellow inmates that he was shopping for a gun to murder the judge. One week before his release, he allegedly boasted to one inmate that the judge would "have a big surprise when I knock on his door."
Spota said law enforcement officers had confiscated letters in which Orkiszewski pursued his plan.
"There is no question in my mind that this man was serious as to what he intended to do," Spota said.
The district attorney portrayed Orkiszewski as a man who had decided to take a "bitter matrimonial dispute ... one step further."
According to Philip J. Castrovinci, who represented Orkiszewski's wife in the divorce, the separation was indeed "very bitter."
In an interview, Castrovinci said he had stayed in touch with Orkiszewski and that he had no idea of the conspiracy allegations against her ex-husband until he heard "a rumor about it" in the courthouse Tuesday.
Castrovinci, of Smithtown, N.Y., said he has been involved with clients who make threats against each other, or even judges, but that it is relatively rare.
Kent said through a spokesman that he had no comment.
Kali Holloway, a spokeswoman for the Office of Court Administration, said it is OCA policy not to comment on security measures and threats against judges.
Justice H. Patrick Leis, Suffolk's administrative judge, also declined to comment.
Kent served as a Family Court judge from 1993 until 1999, when he was elected to the Supreme Court bench. According to court documents, Orkiszewski had appeared before Kent in October 2003.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS (according to the indictment)
• On or about May 9, Brian Orkiszewski wrote a letter asking for, among other things, directions to a "hardware store," described as a code name for a person who could supply him with a firearm.
• On or about May 14, he again wrote a letter asking for the address of a "hardware store."
• Around June 30, Orkiszewski wrote a letter asking for the phone number of someone from whom he could obtain "a good plunger," code for a gun.
• On July 22, the day of his rearrest, Orkiszewski was in possession of a document on which he had written, among other things, the name of a person from whom he believed he could obtain a gun. At his arraignment Tuesday before Justice Robert W. Doyle, Orkiszewski entered a plea of not guilty through his lawyer, Anthony M. Grandinette of Grandinette & Serio in Mineola, N.Y. Doyle set bail at $250,000 cash and set a return date of Sept. 4.
