Crime Scene

It was a routine bail application in Westchester County Court this morning, but the man representing Dwayne Aquart was not just any lawyer. It was Kenneth Lange, the former county judge who once presided over some of Westchester’s biggest trials.
Lange had to step down two years ago when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. So he took a job at his former law firm in Mount Kisco and now is often seen in local courts, mostly in northern Westchester, representing defendants at arraignments and other proceedings.
But this was his first time back at the county courthouse. Judge Barbara Zambelli and prosecutors Patricia Murphy and Michael D’Addario welcomed him. Zambelli was deferential, even stopping herself quickly when she started calling him Mr. Lange. “It’s nice to see you, Judge Lange,” she said.
“It’s a pleasure to be here,” Lange responded. “It’s a pleasure to be anyplace, for that matter.”
It was ironic that Lange appeared in that particular courtroom. As a judge, he was known to tell defendants he set the lowest bail in the courthouse and their lawyers often arranged to make applications when he was the duty part judge. Zambelli has a reputation as one of the toughest when it comes to setting bail.
But Aquart had nothing to worry about this morning. He was in county court because the Yorktown judge would not set bail when he was arrested two days ago for an alleged drug sale that happened 10 months ago. He had no criminal record in New York but police and prosecutors had not gotten the results of a fingerprint check to learn if he had convictions or was wanted anywhere else. Lange listed his local ties – a wife, a second child on the way and asked for $1,000 bail. D’Addario asked for $2,500 bail, pointing to the years in prison Aquart faced if the charge against him remained a felony. Zambelli sided with her former colleague and set bail at $1,000, saying it was likely the first-time offender would face no more than a misdemeanor and a few years of probation.