Thomas Demakos, Judge in Howard Beach Murder Case, Dies at 98

In 1974, Mr. Demakos prosecuted Thomas J. Shea, the primary New York Metropolis police officer indicted on costs of homicide dedicated in the midst of obligation. The officer, a white man, had shot a 10-year-old Black boy, Clifford Glover, in South Jamaica, Queens, in what he mentioned was self-defense. An all-white jury acquitted him, and the capturing and the decision spawned riots.

In 1989, as some 250 law enforcement officials within the courtroom cheered, Justice Demakos sentenced a 23-year-old drug supplier to the utmost of 25 years to life in jail for the homicide of Edward Byrne, a rookie New York Metropolis police officer, the earlier 12 months.

“This vile act was additionally a lethal declaration of conflict towards the very foundations of our society and a defilement of the cornerstone on which our criminal-justice system relies,” Justice Demakos mentioned through the sentencing.

He was born Anastasisos Demakos, a son of Greek immigrants, on Nov. 28, 1923, in Manhattan and raised within the Bronx. (He was at Yankee Stadium in 1939 when Lou Gehrig delivered his well-known “luckiest man on this planet” speech.) His father, Gust C. Demakos, was a restaurant proprietor. His mom, Jane (Chrisomalis) Demakos, was a homemaker. He legally modified his title to Thomas in 1955.

After serving within the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946, he earned a bachelor’s diploma in accounting from Lengthy Island College in 1949 and a grasp’s in enterprise administration from New York College in 1952.

He practiced accounting for a number of years however turned bored and enrolled in N.Y.U.’s College of Regulation, graduating in 1957. He was named an assistant prosecutor in 1962, after the Greek Orthodox Church flexed its political muscle for the appointment of a Greek American to the district legal professional’s workplace. He was made chief assistant in 1975.

Justice Demakos served on the Felony Court docket from 1980 to 1985. He was elected to the Supreme Court docket in 1985 and served till 1999, when he reached the obligatory retirement age of 76. He was a judicial listening to officer till 2011.