TROY — A few weeks before handing over the Rensselaer County district attorney's office to Democrat Mary Pat Donnelly, Joel E. Abelove told the families of the four victims of a vicious December 2017 homicide that the prosecution of the case would suffer when Donnelly took over.

In an interview with the Times Union, Donnelly confirmed Abelove’s remarks, which the Republican former district attorney made when he spoke briefly to family members as they met with his staff about the case.

Abelove’s comments, which unfavorably compared Donnelly's experience as a prosecutor to his, upset the victims' relatives and stunned members of the district attorney's staff who were present, according to multiple sources familiar with the incident.

Donnelly condemned Abelove's remarks, and called them another problem she has been forced to clean up since taking office Jan. 1 with a pledge to restore integrity and professionalism to the office.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who currently serves as president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, also condemned Abelove's statements, which he said were both hurtful to the victims' relatives and undermined public confidence in the prosecutor's office.

"The idea you would do something that upsets the confidence of victims' families in believing in the prosecution is certainly unfortunate," said Soares, a Democrat. "It borders on unethical behavior. It's certainly immoral."

In any transition from one district attorney's administration to its successor, he added, "There can be no place for juvenile or petty behavior."

Abelove did not respond to a request to comment Thursday.

His behavior in the meeting is just one of Donnelly's complaints against her predecessor. She said Abelove refused to meet with her during the transition, and took photographs of her while she was interviewing assistant district attorneys in the county courthouse. Donnelly said she has no idea why he was taking the photos.

“In the course of doing our job, we’re going to resolve the problems," said Donnelly, who as an example of her strategy pointed to the appointment of veteran prosecutor Matthew Hauf as her chief assistant.

Hauf will prosecute Justin Mann and James W. White, both of Schenectady, for the violent deaths of Brandi Mells, 22; Shanta Myers, 36; Jeremiah Myers, 11; and Shanise Myers, 5. The four were found tied up with their throats slashed in their basement apartment at 158 Second Ave. in Troy’s Lansingburgh neighborhood shortly before Christmas 2017.

Hauf is a former member of Soares' Major Offense Unit, where he prosecuted violent felonies and property crimes. Hauf began working on the quadruple homicide even before his scheduled start date with Donnelly's office.

Donnelly — who has retained all but one of Abelove's prosecutors — said she’s been working with Hauf on the case’s legal issues. She described it as a “horrendous crime” and said that she did not want to see the families of the victims suffer more.

It was widely known among county Republicans and Democrats that Abelove, whose single term was marked by repeated controversies, had been counting on a successful prosecution of Mann and White to boost his re-election campaign. But evidentiary hearings postponed the case, removing it from the trial calendar. On Election Day, Donnelly defeated Abelove 55 percent to 45 percent.

A new trial date for the two men has yet to be set by County Court Judge Debra Young, who is still weighing several defense motions. White and Mann are charged with nine counts of first-degree murder, four counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of second-degree robbery and two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

The quadruple homicide is the most prominent case that Donnelly inherited from Abelove. The new district attorney also is confronting a double homicide case in which indictments brought by Abelove were dismissed three times for being legally insufficient. She has to consider making another attempt to secure a successful indictment.

“Obviously, messes are coming up,” Donnelly said. “It’s what I expected.”

The latest mess occurred Wednesday, when her office agreed to the dismissal of a grand jury indictment on misdemeanor charges brought by Abelove in December against a former Troy police officer. Donnelly said the indictment filed by Abelove came after a speedy-trial deadline had expired two months earlier.

Donnelly’s staff is working on ensuring that cases are handled properly so that they are not subject to dismissal for violating such deadlines.

A Times Union review of cases that came before Abelove's office between Jan. 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017, found 400 were returned from the county court level to the local municipal courts, where 38 percent were dismissed due to speedy-trial issues.