The Long Island divorce lawyer representing the Gilgo Beach murder suspect’s estranged wife is an ex-con once convicted of cocaine possession.
Asa Ellerup, who filed for divorce from accused serial killer Rex Heuermann about a week after his July 13 arrest, hired attorney Robert Macedonio to represent her in the split.
Macedonio, 56, started his career as a Suffolk County assistant district attorney, but pleaded guilty in 2008 to felony cocaine possession, and saw his law license revoked as a result.
A criminal defense lawyer at the time, Macedonio was arrested for possessing at least half a gram of cocaine — which was the sole result of a year-long probe by the DA’s office into other criminal activity they believed Macedonio to be engaging in, including witness tampering and high-level drug crimes, according to 2016 Newsday report.
The DA later reduced the felony conviction to a misdemeanor without explanation, which allowed the lawyer to regain his license, according to reports.
The move sparked a federal probe of the office, News12 reported at the time. A spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, which handles such investigations, refused to confirm any probe.
“Everyone who was involved in that decision-making process is long gone from here. . . . We really can’t speak for the decision-making of the folks who were in charge before we got here,” said a Suffolk County DA’s Office spokesperson.
“It’s as troubling as cases go when you can see widespread criminality and fraud by Mr. Macedonio,” said Bennett Greshman, a Pace Law School professor and former prosecutor, of the “sweetheart deal” given to Macedonio.
Macedonio didn’t immediately respond to messages.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to six counts of murder — three in the first degree and another three in the second degree — for the killings of Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello and Melissa Barthelemy, whose bodies were found on the shore of Gilgo Beach in December, 2010.