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Praise for Confessions of a Hayseed DA
“A hayseed? While he may have lived in ‘upstate’ New York, this humble
public servant was erudite and sophisticated. As the son of the county’s
Chief Medical Examiner and later as a prosecutor for then Assistant
Attorney General Robert R. Meehan, I knew the players depicted and
many of the featured cases. The graphic description of the train bus
collision injected a level of detail I never knew and reignited many of
the emotions from that tragedy. I am grateful to this great man for
memorializing these historical events and providing a unique insight
into our criminal justice system when placed in the hands of a man
with unwavering ethics, integrity and compassion.”
— New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas P. Zugibe,
former Rockland County District Attorney, 2008–2019
“An entertaining and compelling account of the dynamic challenges
facing the chief prosecutor of a small scenic county just thirty miles
north of New York City as he deals with the vagaries and absurdities
of crime in the community he cherished and called home. This book
reminds us of the delicate decisions and balance required to ensure
justice in our communities while protecting the rights of the accused
as provided for in our constitution. In comparison to the polarizing
times we live in today, DA Meehan’s thoughtful, ethical and occa-
sionally self-effacing approach to criminal justice serve as a profound
reminder that ‘justice for all’ is only possible with the dedication of
good public servants who respect and are committed to the search for
the truth in all matters large and small.”
— Anne Crowley, former Press Secretary and Director of
Communications for New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo,
and former Executive Vice President,
Corporate Affairs for Fidelity Investments
Edited by
Kathleen Meehan Do
e e
excelsior editions
an imprint of state university of new york press
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
Names: Meehan, Robert R., 1930–2004, author. | Meehan Do, Kathleen, editor.
Title: Confessions of a hayseed DA / Robert R. Meehan ; edited by Kathleen
Meehan Do.
Description: Albany, NY : State University of New York, [2022] | Includes
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021061311 (print) | LCCN 2021061312 (ebook) | ISBN
9781438488646 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438488639 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Meehan, Robert R., 1930–2004. | Public prosecutors—New
York (State)—Rockland County—Biography.
Classification: LCC KF373.M415 A3 2022 (print) | LCC KF373.M415 (ebook) |
DDC 345.74728/01262092 [B]—dc23/eng/20220204
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021061311
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021061312
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For all those devoted to upholding
and protecting the rule of law . . .
especially Laura
Contents
Editor’s Note ix
Preface xi
Epilogue 233
Acknowledgments 237
Notes 239
Index 241
viii | Contents
Editor’s Note
ix
pen. I pulled out some folders that had groups of papers stapled together.
And then, at the bottom of the bag, I found a bound manuscript: The
Hayseed DA by Robert R. Meehan.
It is hard to describe what a gift it has been to find and read this
book. Dad had, in fact, finished it. It is a memoir of his nine years as
district attorney, beginning when he was thirty-five years old. Reading this
book is for me—and for all of my family and those who loved him—a
chance to hear Dad’s voice again: the young Dad, Rockland’s Fighting DA,
the Dad who gathered inspiration from his favorite characters of televi-
sion and film. It brought back his passion for the rule of law, his belief
that both victims and those accused of a crime deserved a fair chance to
receive justice. He was driven, he was occasionally irreverent, he had a
wry sense of humor, and he would walk through fire for his family and
friends. All of that shines through in these pages.
Before I had even finished reading the first chapter, I knew I had to
publish this book. I could actually feel Dad standing behind me, cheering
me on. My sisters Mary and Pat immediately signed on to help.
It has been quite a project to first digitize the book and then edit
it, being sure to maintain my father’s unique voice while telling his story.
There are only a couple of significant changes from his original manuscript.
First, I changed the name of the book to Confessions of a Hayseed DA.
The book is as much about what Dad was proud of as it was about things
he wished he had done differently. It is a tribute to those he worked with
and the lessons they taught him. It is not just a memoir; it is, in many
ways, a beautiful confessional.
The other change happened when I found a short story, not included
in the original manuscript, mixed in with all of the papers in one of the
folders. It was about the nail-biting experience of November 2, 1965, the
night Dad won the upset, squeaker election to become District Attorney
of Rockland County. It had to be included. And so, with a little bit of
editing magic, it was.
As much as anything else, this book is a love letter to Rockland
County—its people, its history, and its character. As he makes clear in
this book, Dad ruffled some feathers and was not always the most loved
person in Rockland. In the end, however, I do believe he earned the
respect of the people he served. For Dad, that was enough.
x | Editor’s Note
Preface
xi
Chapter 1
I was going on The Barry Gray Show one evening in early December
1970 and I must say I was pleased. I had been on local radio shows in
Rockland County and I had even been on a Sunday morning talk show
on TV in New York, but The Barry Gray Show was a highbrow radio
talk show, targeted to late evening intellectuals who scorn TV. It was a
definite first for me.
I had been elected District Attorney of Rockland County back in
1965 in what was considered locally a big upset. A Democrat hadn’t held
the office since 1911, so I became mildly famous in the county just for
getting myself elected. However, this fame stopped very sharply at the
county line. In fact, most people in New York City weren’t quite sure
where Rockland County was, and they certainly didn’t know who I was.
There were two other guests on the show that night: Peter Vallone, a
politician from New York City who planned to challenge Herman Badillo
for Congress, and Giraud Chester, who had written a new book entitled
The Ninth Juror, about his own experience as a juror on a murder trial
in New York City.
I was introduced to the other guests and to Barry Gray just before
we went on the air at 11:30 p.m. They all seem to know each other, or
at least acted like they did, but I had never met any of them before and,
although they were very pleasant, I got the impression that they wondered
why I was on this New York City–oriented show—I did too.
We went into the small studio and I was impressed that the micro-
phones looked like something out of The Big Broadcast of 1938. It was a
1
semi-circular set up with Gray in the middle. Each of us had an individ-
ual microphone and we sat down at little tables facing each other. Gray
had a headset on so he could hear his cues but other than that, it was
all the same.
The show went on the air and the first thing Barry Gray did was
introduce each of his guests and identify who they were. The other two
were introduced first and after their introductions, Peter Vallone and
Mr. Chester both said, “Good evening, glad to be with you,” or words to
that effect. When he got to me, Gray said, “And lastly we have Robert
Meehan, who is the District Attorney of Rockland County.” I was a little
more nervous than I thought. My response was simply to nod at the
microphone, which I suppose is not the best radio form.
Gray started his informal talk with Giraud Chester, asking many
questions about his book and the actual trial he had sat on. Then he went
to Pete Vallone and the problems of Queens and the South Bronx. After
a few minutes of the ghetto problems, it was back to Chester. I thought
he wasn’t even going to get to me, but he did.
Right after the second commercial break, Gray turned, looked at
me dead pan, and said, “What do you do up there in Rockland County?”
A monumental question, but I was prepared to start an answer when he
immediately broke in and continued, “You know I’ve had district attorneys
on the show, but I never had a ‘Hayseed DA’ on before. I figure that up
there in Rockland County you sit around and watch haircuts on Saturday
nights, just for something to do!”
I thought to myself, “Holy mackerel, I should have stuck to my late
night TV movies, which I so dearly love.” But strangely enough, the rest
of the show went rather well and when it was over an hour or so later, I
liked Barry Gray and I kind of thought he liked me.
I’ve always remembered those lines of Barry Gray and they never offend
me, because after all, I suppose I am something of a hayseed. My clothes
never seem to quite fit, my shoes are scuffed, my ears tend to stick out a
bit, and my hair always appears a little in disarray, even after I comb it.
In short, I lack the polish and manner that anyone would associate with
a “Mr. District Attorney” figure.
2 | Confessions of a Hayseed DA
However, I am writing now because I want people to know that even
us “Hayseeds” do have our interesting moments. I suppose I could start
with that very day of The Barry Gray Show. The day began with a phone
call that woke me from my usual sound sleep at 4:30 that morning. But
better yet, let me tell you how it all began.
One month earlier, at about 7:30 in the evening, a gas station in
Sloatsburg, New York, had been held up at gunpoint. The twenty-one-
year-old attendant, who was working alone in the station, had not only
been robbed of the day’s receipts but was kidnapped by the holdup man
and his girlfriend (or “Moll,” as we should call her). They put him in the
trunk of their car and headed north on the New York State Thruway.
Four hours later the young attendant’s body was found lying face down
a few feet off the shoulder of the Thruway, fifty-five miles to the north in
Ulster County. Two .45-caliber bullets had entered the back of his skull.
This was a brutal murder.
Four days after that, another young gas station attendant in nearby
Mahwah in Bergen County, New Jersey, was held up and murdered by
two shots from a .45-caliber weapon—according to ballistics, the same .45.
To the hardened citizens of New York City or Detroit or Los Angeles,
this may be the type of news they have come to accept. In our corner of the
world, it was a nightmare; a vicious killer was on the loose. The jurisdiction
for prosecution was in Bergen County, New Jersey, for the Mahwah killing
and Ulster County, New York, for the murder of the Sloatsburg attendant.
In the state of New York, jurisdiction lies where the body is found if it
is not known where the murder actually occurred, as was the case in the
first days of the investigation. Hence, Ulster got the case.
An around-the-clock investigation went forward, led by the New
York State Police from the Kingston Barracks in Ulster County, the Bergen
County Prosecutor’s Office, the Ramapo Police Department, and my office
from Rockland County because of our deep involvement and concern.
A break came several days after the Mahwah killing. One Laura Mancini,
out of conscience or fear or both, came forward and said that she had
accompanied one John Barkley, age thirty, of Mahwah, New Jersey, on his
murderous junkets in both Rockland and Bergen counties. Barkley was
Laura Mancini not only handed Barkley up on both murders, but she set
in motion the biggest manhunt in the history of Rockland County. She
told where John was hiding out, in a summer cabin in the foothills of the
Ramapo Mountains in Hillburn, New York, near the New Jersey State line.
As the police closed in, John retreated into the rough terrain of the
Ramapos on one of the first bitter cold nights of the season at the end
of November.
Having made his initial escape into the mountains, the manhunt
began in earnest with New York and New Jersey State Police and many
local Rockland County police departments, led by the Ramapo Police,
fanning out into the dark, cold, and rugged mountains.
The story was front-page news. The second day the banner head-
line of the local Rockland daily paper, the Journal News, read, “KILLER
4 | Confessions of a Hayseed DA
STALKED IN RAMAPOS.” The third day the headline screamed, “POLICE
CLOSE IN ON BARKLEY.” The fourth day I received the telephone call.
When the phone rang at our house after 1 a.m. in those days, it was
either 1) a police department reporting a serious crime, 2) the local press
working on a morning deadline, or 3) and the most frequent, someone a
little worse for alcohol, calling to let his district attorney know just what
he thought of him. For this reason, my dear wife, Nancy, was assigned to
screen all such calls. With the police and the press, she was great—with
the tipplers, she was not.
“Bob, this one sounds like she really needs help,” or “Oh, you’ve got
to take it, he sounds desperate.”
Nancy is a compassionate girl, but a judge of slurred speech she is
not. After answering the phone at 4:30 that morning, Nancy said, “Bob, it’s
young Joe St. Lawrence and he says it’s very important.” Joe was then about
twenty-one years old and owned his own motorcycle shop in Sloatsburg,
but more important, he was the son of my high school football coach
from days gone by at Suffern High School.
I took the call and Joe got right to the point. He knew John Barkley
as a regular customer at his cycle shop and John had just called him to
say that he wanted to surrender, but he would only surrender to me and
I must be alone with no other law enforcement officers. My first thought
was, “Why me?” But my first question was, “Where is he?”
St. Lawrence said he truly did not know, that Barkley had only told
him he was more than two hundred miles away and that he wouldn’t tell
him unless Meehan accepted the deal to come alone. Barkley told Joe
that he would call back in an hour for an answer. Without hesitation, I
told him the deal of going alone was out, that as district attorney, I did
not even have the power of a peace officer to make arrests and, besides,
I wasn’t a complete fool. I would, however, personally meet him with one
of my investigators from the District Attorney’s Office.
We then got to the issue of “Why me?” and why through St. Law-
rence. The answer really surprised me. It seems without realizing it until
that minute, I knew John Barkley and he knew and apparently liked me.
It had begun over eight years earlier. I had just bought my house on
Cherry Lane in the little hamlet of Tallman. It was one of those develop-
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