Melinda Katz addresses the crowd after being sworn into the office of Queens District Attorney. Courtesy of Queens DA’s offi ce
A NEW ERA BEGINS
Katz outlines priorities, responds to critics at her inauguration as district attorney
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JAN. 10-JAN. 16, 2020 3
BY MAX PARROTT
The inauguration of Melinda
Katz, the first female
district attorney of Queens,
gathered city and state officials,
religious figures and
a crowd of hundreds at her
alma mater, St. John’s University
on Monday.
Katz joined a constellation
of officials including Rep.
Greg Meeks, Lt. Gov. Kathy
Hochul, Attorney General
Tish James and Mayor Bill
de Blasio, who gave remarks
heralding Katz’s stewardship
as a pivotal moment for criminal
justice reform.
“I was elected, I like to
think, because of the trust
that I will bring a steady hand
in these times of uncertainty
— a steady hand, a commonsense
hand,” Katz said in her
inauguration speech.
The electeds praised Katz
on her creation of the borough’s
first conviction integrity
unit, and her promise to
challenge ICE’s presence at
courthouses and crack down
on hate crimes. Several also
commented on how they
thought her history of public
service as borough president,
a City Council member and
an Assembly member prepared
her for the office.
“Melinda Katz will still be
Melinda Katz no matter what
the title is, no matter where
she goes. No matter the situation,”
said Meeks, who campaigned
with Katz in his capacity
as chair of the Queens
County Democratic Party.
Though Katz’s political
supporters filled the bleachers,
outside Carnesecca Arena
the signs of her turbulent
primary battle with Tiffany
Cabán persisted. Around a
dozen activists from Court
Watch NYC and Our Progressive
Future showed up to protest
Katz’s failure to follow
through with her promise to
end cash bail completely on
her first day in office.
Sharon Lee, who will act
as borough president until
the office is filled, introduced
Katz’s nine-member executive
team led by Chief Assistant
Jennifer L. Naiburg, a
26-year-veteran of the Queens
DA’s office. Four of the incoming
members of team are holdovers
from former Queens DA
Richard Brown’s office, but
the team also includes some
notable fresh faces like Bryce
Benjet, the director of the newly
created district attorney’s
Conviction Integrity Unit.
Benjet, a senior staff attorney
with the Innocence Project
for the past seven years,
has spent most of his career
fighting against wrongful
convictions. That Conviction
Integrity Unit will examine
cases to make recommendations
for exoneration if someone
is found to be wrongfully
convicted.
It’s one of four progressive
policy changes that Katz
put into effect on day one of
her tenure.Others include the
abandonment of the 180.80
waiver policy — a reform that
allows defendants to enter a
plea bargain five days after an
indictment without waiving
their right to a grand jury.
Katz also eliminated “top
count only” plea policy after
indictment. The goal of this
policy stops defendants from
making a choice between going
to trial or taking a plea
deal based on the top count of
their indictment.
She has renamed the Special
Prosecutions unit to the
Community Partnerships
Division to signal its goal of
working “with the community
to foster communication.”
Katz ended by addressing
cash bail. She admitted
that though her office did
not do away completely with
the practice on the first day,
she was “committed to ending
cash bail in all forms.
Period.” She said that this
was something that was not
achievable without the infrastructure
on supervised release
yet in place.
“There’s a lot of naysayers
and critics. There are those
who say we’re not going far
enough, there are those who
are going too far,” said Katz
in closing. “I look forward to
that challenge with the trust
to do the right thing even
though we know we can’t
achieve it all in that single
day.”
Reach reporter Max Parrott
by e-mail at mparrott@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260-2507.
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