QUEENS WEEKLY, JANUARY 12, 2020 A NEW ERA BEGINS
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Katz outlines priorities, responds to critics at her inauguration as district attorney
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 common-sense 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
Melinda Katz addresses the crowd after being sworn into the office of Queens District Attorney. Courtesy of Queens DA’s office
day in office.
Sharon Lee, who will
act as borough president
until the office is filled,
introduced Katz’s ninemember
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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