The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

MONTICELLO – “I would like people to believe that we ran this office to the highest degree of integrity and fairness to ethical standards,” said Sullivan County District Attorney a few days before he retired as the county’s chief prosecutor; after 28 years at the helm.

Stephen F. Lungen in Judge Frank J. LaBuda’s courtroom, made his case to the jury in the 2003 Hal Karen murder trial.

“We may be tough, but I think we’ve been fair,” he added of the concept that if folks commit serious crimes such as murder, sexual assault and general mayhem, these crimes weaken the fabric of society, and those convicted should face the music.

Lungen was elected as the county’s lead prosecutor in November 1981, and took over as DA in 1982, following in the legal footsteps of a long line of distinguished public officials starting with Lemuel Jenkins who was appointed to the position in 1818, Charles H. Van Wyck, the county’s first elected DA, right up to his immediate predecessor Joseph Jaffe.

Lungen was born and raised in Mountaindale, where his family has been a presence for 100 years to parents who ran Lungen Motor Sales, a Ford dealership founded by his family in 1919 only to close in 1967 (the garage shut down two years later) “when the economy in Sullivan County started to go south.”

After graduating high school, he was accepted at Brooklyn Law School, was married on June 16, ’68 and upon returning from their honeymoon, found his draft notice waiting for him.

On December 1, Steve Lungen was the keynote speaker during a Sullivan County Drug Court graduation.

On January 13, 1969 Lungen entered into military service where he served with distinction as a combat infantry lieutenant in a helicopter assault unit during the Vietnam War.

He talks about his wartime experiences in an article titled “Reflections of a Vietnam War Vet” published exclusively online by The Catskill Chronicle.

During the conflict up by the DMZ, Lungen led his unit into battle and was awarded numerous citations including two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

Upon arriving back home, he carried over a few hard earned lessons learned on the battlefield to the DA’s office: as a commander, you’re the first one in and the last one out; you always take care of the people in your command; you never ask anyone to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself; and you always lead by example.

According to Lungen, as a DA you can’t have a win at all costs attitude – unlike Vince Lombardi – because you have the obligation to comply with the law and code of ethics “to make sure that at the end of the day the right thing is done.”

James R. Farrell, the county’s newly elected DA, talks to retiring DA Steve Lungen.

“We need to be ethical, have integrity and do the right thing,” he explained, adding that on the opposite side of the courtroom, defense attorneys have the right to keep some things under wraps in the best interests of their clients.

“As a DA, I had a lot of power, let’s say it the way it is, and with that power I could do harm and I could do good to affect people’s lives…[but] if you don’t recognize how much power you have, that’s when you get into trouble. You have to do what you think is right.”

After graduating from Brooklyn Law School in 1973, Lungen worked for local attorneys-at-law Louis Scheinman and Marty Gilman, and then for a few years as a private attorney working for the DA’s office, including an assignment as an appointed special prosecutor for the kidnapping/homicide cases of Richard Lucas and Richard Graham after Scheinman was elected DA.

When Joseph Jaffe took over as DA, Lungen went back into private practice until he threw his hat into the ring and was duly elected.

Lungen with a framed article by The Times Herald Record’s departed Mike Levine.

On his watch, Lungen tackled some of the hardest cases, including almost 100 homicides: single murders, double homicides, heat of passion homicides, robber homicides, rape homicides, and double arson homicides.

“Trials involving little babies, cases were little babies were stuck in storage containers in Arizona, cases where the victims were dead for 25 years and there was hardly any DNA from the victims.”

Lungen said the “most notorious case of child abuse in the county” was the death of Christopher Gardner, in which the jury found his mother Diane Erwin and her boyfriend guilty of murder and sentenced both to life in prison without parole.

“There wasn’t a square inch on his little body, from front to back, that didn’t have a bruise or a mark…that case was brutal.”

Other memorable homicide cases include using DNA evidence to convict Anthony Burton “of brutally murdering an elderly Hasidic couple”, the killer of Barbara Vote in Eldred, and the murderer of Gary Keyes of Callicoon.

In 2003, Lungen tried two murder cases: Hal Karen, a former special forces soldier convicted of killing his wife, stuffing her into a garage can, and tossing her over a cliff, and Diane Odell, convicted of stuffing several of her infants into a suitcase and abandoning them in a storage container in Arizona.

In “The Garage Can Murder”, Karen was sentenced to 25-plus years to life, and in “The Babies in a Suitcase” trial, Odell was sentenced to 25 to life.

A caricature cartoon portraying Lungen as King Kong being strafed by Legal Aid attorneys Tim Havas and Stephan Schick.

“I was their only spokesperson, it was very heavy to tell the jury what she did to them,’ recalled Lungen of the Odell trial. “We had to get it right because she was a killer.”

From 1982 to 2009, the Sullivan County DA’s office filed three death penalty cases that went to murder one, life without parole. “I’m the last one standing, but at the end of the game, it’s a joint effort between me and the police agencies in every case,” said Lungen. “The murder cases allowed me to make it right for the families of the
victims.”

The retired DA leaves behind a legacy including the initiative of addressing alcohol and drug abuse cases through rehabilitation as an alternative to incarceration, forming a family violence response team with former Sullivan County Sheriff Dan Houge, creating a Stop DWI program “long before it became politically fashionable” as a forerunner
to the NYS Stop DWI program, and handling one of the first DNA cases in the nation.

His take on the meaning of ‘the law’? “It’s what we follow, it’s the bible of what we do.”

Since being elected in 1982, Lungen was consistently re-elected until he decided, “It was time for younger blood, somebody to move this office forward.”

His handpicked and publically elected successor is James R. Farrell, who served as an ADA for 14 years, most recently as Chief ADA. “I know the man’s ability, his integrity, and courtroom skills,” said Lungen. “I know his dedication and his passion…he reminds me of myself thirty years ago. He’s going to be great DA.”

Lungen in his office with a poster from one of his early election campaigns.

As Lungen started the task of packing up his files and taking some pictures and memorabilia off the walls in his office, he said reflectively, “I will not miss the public life, [because] you’re always under the microscope. But I will miss the trial work, I love going into court and trying cases.”

So what’s the outgoing district attorney going to do once the new year rolls in?

“I’m going to take some time off and recharge after working 24/7 for 28 years, mellow out and get myself together…and maybe in the Spring start a small private law practice,” replied Lungen. “I think over the last 28 years, I’ve served this office pretty well.”

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