QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, October 10, 2019 Page 6
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Katz talks DA race, reform and Rikers Borough president makes case for Nov. 5 win in Chronicle interview by David Russell
misdemeanor and nonviolent felony jail, citing the large size and lack of offenses, with the laws going into community input. “It made no sense to me,” she said, Borough President Melinda Katz was triumphant in the effect in January 2020. Katz believes a “lot of issues” will explaining that the jail would have tightly contested Democratic primary for district attorney over space for far more detainees than it is Tiffany Cabán, in an election that concluded more than five be taken care of by the new bail laws. “I still fully believe bail is meant to expected to hold. “The math didn’t weeks after voting. add up.” Katz, in a sitdown interview with the Chronicle editorial be a punishment for the poor,” she Katz added that it didn’t make board last Thursday, noted that most of the candidates in the said. She said she’s interested to see how sense to knock down the municipal seven-person field for the Democratic primary agreed that the laws will be implemented as a DA parking lot that was recently conthere should be justice reform. structed at the site. “The difference would be I would prosecute some crimes,” on Jan. 1. Katz spoke of certain priorities she She believes the new bail laws she said. should take effect before buildings are On Nov. 5, voters will choose between Katz and Joe Murray, will pursue if elected. For one, she would send an investigator to every knocked down. the cop-turned-attorney Republican candidate. “The problem, I think, with the way A large part of her campaign is that she already knows workplace accident site to investigate. that this has gone is that everybody Queens communities because of her current role and that a And she would start recruiting for a thinks, ‘There’s an easy answer. We’ll newcomer wouldn’t have the same kind of trust earned in the conviction integrity unit. The DA Off ice’s cur rent just knock down Rikers and put it up area. largely selected by the somewhere else.’ That’s not the issue r Will she have the trust of some areas she didn’t win ens vote regime, e u s late Richard Brown, the with Rikers,” Katz said. in the primary? Q Queens DA from 1991 Borough President Melinda Katz speaks to the She said the issues are that the com“I think that the communities most impacted by through 2019, is seemingly Chronicle in a sitdown interview about her run plex is too large, too unyielding and the inequality and injustice of the criminal justice for district attorney. PHOTO BY PETER C. MASTROSIMONE prone to a lot of violence. on the way out, she said. [system] are the ones who are my largest supporters Katz visited Rikers a few weeks “I think that there will because they know that I actually want equity in the be a wholesale change in the leadership,” Katz ago, her first trip in about 25 years. She spoke to a dozen men system,” Katz said. 201 9 individually and they told her how they want to get out, go to said. If she’s triumphant in November, Katz said, she will She said she has respect for Brown and knew him since schools and tell students that there’s a better path than crime. try to find justice for victims and defendants, while keepBut, she said, nobody is coming out of Rikers better than she was a kid but that “things change.” ing communities safe. “You usually want your own people at the top leadership when they went in. “I think you can do it all,” she said. “Why not? Why aren’t we giving the resources to people As candidates in the primary spoke about reforming the sys- positions,” she said. An issue Katz has been questioned about in both her capaci- that are in there to come out better? I think you can do both,” tem, Katz said the question became which crimes would candity as borough president and as a candidate for district attorney Katz said. “They’re not preclusive of each other.” dates prosecute, because that’s the DA’s role. According to Katz, many of the inmates at Rikers are either But she said a prosecutor’s job is “first and foremost trying is Mayor de Blasio’s plan to replace the Rikers Island complex with four borough-based jails. One would be at 126-02 82 Ave. awaiting trial because they couldn’t pay bail, were sentenced to to lower the crime rate.” Katz spoke about working with partnerships for crime by the Queens Criminal Courthouse, where the old House of less than a year for a crime or haven’t been indicted yet. “I’d like to think almost anyone’s reformable that’s in there,” Detention stands. The new 1,150-bed facility is planned to hold prevention. she said. “I truly believe the best way to lower crime is to make sure all of the city’s female inmates as well as males from Queens. While she is no fan of Rikers, Katz couldn’t vote for the borIn September, the City Planning Commission voted 9-3 in that we keep guns out of people’s hands as opposed to getting ough-based jails, saying the mayor’s plan amounts to replacing them caught up in the system and figuring out how to punish,” favor of the plan. Katz is for closing Rikers Island — she noted the value of one large, bad institution with four bad ones “without any other she said. Q In April, the state Legislature eliminated cash bail for most detainees being close to home — but voted against the Queens answers.” Associate Editor
Acting DA Ryan to step down in 2020 Longtime second-in-command to Brown will leave office next year by David Russell For the latest news visit qchron.com
Associate Editor
Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan will be stepping down when the new DA takes office in 2020, according to a spokesperson. Ryan was DA Richard Brown’s second-in-command from COURTESY PHOTO 1997 until Brown’s death in May.
Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan plans on stepping down at the beginning of 2020, according to a spokesperson for the DA’s office. There hasn’t been a formal announcement yet but he will look to clear the way for the new district attorney. Democratic Borough President Melinda Katz is running against cop-turned-lawyer Joe Murray, who is on the Republican line. The election is Nov. 5 and the new DA will take office Jan. 1. Ryan said he is willing to assist if needed, while Katz has stated her desire to reform the office if she is victorious. I n M a r c h 2 019, R i c h a r d B r ow n announced he would retire in June and Ryan would take over. Brown died in May. Ryan interned at the DA’s office in the early 1970s. Upon graduating St. John’s
Law School, he was appointed as a criminal law investigator and then an assistant district attorney when he was admitted to the New York State Bar the following year. He went to work for the state Attorney General’s Off ice but ret u r ned to the Queens DA’s office in 1991. For six years he was the senior executive assistant district attorney. In 1997, he was promoted to chief assistant district attorney and spent t h e n e x t 2 2 y e a r s a s B r o w n ’s second-in-command. In 2016, Brown honored Ryan with the office’s Gene Kelly Award, saying that “Serving the people of Queens County and the cause of justice always has been the only reward he needs.” According to Ryan’s biography on the Queens DA website, he says the same thing to every new ADA: “Welcome to the Q best job you will ever have.”