OFFICE OF THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY ANNUAL REPORT 2007 JANET DIFIORE DISTRICT ATTORNEY TABLE OF CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE DA…………………..………………………………………….1 PROSECUTION…………………..………………………………………………………2 HOMICIDES…………………..……...…………………………………………………..3 SEX CRIMES…………………..……..………………………………………………….5 VIOLENT FELONY SCREENING PROTOCOL…………………..……..…………………6 CODIS…………………..……..……………………………………………………….7 GANG VIOLENCE/FIREARMS/NARCOTICS…………………..……..…………………..9 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, CHILD ABUSE AND ELDER ABUSE…………………..………13 PUBLIC CORRUPTION…………………..……………………..………………………14 CONSUMER FRAUD AND PROPERTY THEFT………………….………………………15 ORGANIZED CRIME/CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE/AUTO CRIMES…………………..……..16 ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES…………………..……..………………………………….17 PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATIONS…………………..……..……………………18 CRIME PREVENTION AND INITIAVES…………………...……..………………………20 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGAL PARTNERS…………………….………………………22 PREVENTING GUN VIOLENCE…………………..……..………………………………22 ROAD TO RECOVERY DRUG TREATMENT……………..……..………………………23 LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES…………………..……..………………………………...…23 WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY…………………..……..……….…………………24 TRAINING AND EDUCATION…………………..……..……………………………...…26 FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY…………………..……..………………………………...…27 A MESSAGE FROM THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY My first two years as Westchester County District Attorney have been challenging, enlightening and very rewarding. We continue to evolve from a traditional, reactive law enforcement agency, focusing solely on the prosecution of crimi- nals, to a proactive, forward-thinking office addressing public safety needs by focusing on the many forces that drive crime in our communities. Criminal activity does not respect political geographical boundaries. Collaboration is a key component of successful crime fighting, and we have worked hard to forge solid strategic alliances with local, state and federal law en- forcement agencies, the courts, and victim advocate and community groups. This Annual Report documents the continuing success we have achieved in fulfilling our mission of enhanced and sustained public safety in Westchester County. By the numbers, in 2007, our efforts have yielded impres- sive results: prosecutorial efforts resulted in a 97% fel- ony conviction rate, one of the highest in the state, and our, affirmance rate on appeals was even higher - over 99%. We aggressively prosecuted violent felonies and pur- sued investigations targeting gangs, narcotics and fire- arms. At the same time, we referred to Drug Treatment Courts those individuals whose cases merited an oppor- District Attorney Janet DiFiore with reporters from tunity for treatment rather than incarceration. The Child Kids X-press Magazine after they conducted an interview. Fatality Review Team released three public reports with the goal of educating parents of young children to the dangers of co-sleeping. Seeking to enhance our ability to prose- cute important cases, we successfully proposed important legislation in the areas of human trafficking and online sex- ual predators. Recognizing that recidivism among those released from prison poses a serious public safety issue, I agreed to chair the Westchester County Reentry Task Force, a collaboration among state, county and not-for-profit agencies that be- gan its work in 2007. The Task Force coordinates supervision and services for reentrants and assists where gaps in services impede a successful return to the community and family. Our 2007 reentrants’ preliminary results, in terms of lower rates of rearrests and violations of parole, are encouraging. We continue to focus on the importance of new information technology, both updating the way our office conducts business and enhancing our ability to investigate increasingly sophisticated crimes. Working with local, state and fed- eral colleagues, we put in place plans for a spring 2008 opening of the Westchester Intelligence Center. This state-of- the-art technologically advanced facility will offer local police departments the opportunity to unify their crime-fighting efforts through shared intelligence and analysis. It is the hard work and cutting edge programs behind the numbers, however, that will allow us to continue to build on those successes. I take great pride in my staff’s commitment to serving the public through these initiatives detailed in this report. We will continue to focus on driving down crime, enhancing public safety, and promoting fairness at every level of our criminal justice system, all with an eye to fiscal responsibility. Thank you for taking the time to read about the important work we are doing. We are very proud of our work, but we are even more proud to serve the people of Westchester County. For more information about our programs and ser- vices, please visit us at www.westchesterda.net. 1 PROSECUTION CONVICTIONS As Chief Law Enforcement Officer of Westchester County, the District Attorney is responsible for the fair and impartial prosecution of all crimes committed Prison / Jail Time Felony Conviction in this County. A core mission of every District Attorney’s Rate for Felony Rate 2007 Office is the vigorous prosecution of serious and violent crime. Convictions In 2007, my Office pursued this mission, skillfully, ethically, and forcefully – and the results have been outstanding. Ac- cording to the statistics maintained by the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), in 2007, the Westchester 97% 91% County District Attorney’s Office had a felony conviction rate WC NYS of over 97%. This number includes both guilty pleas and trial 79% 72% convictions. By way of comparison, in 2007 the statewide WC NYS conviction rate for felony offenses was 91%. The percentage of defendants convicted of felony offenses in 2007 who were sentenced to prison/jail was 79% as compared to the state rate of 72%. Prison / Jail Time Violent Felony Conviction Rate for Violent Felony Rate Our conviction rate in 2007 for violent felony offenders, individu- Convictions als charged with crimes such as murder, manslaughter, robbery, burglary, aggravated assaults, sex offenses, kidnapping, gun possession, and arson was better than 95% Statewide, the conviction rate for violent felony offenses was 89%. The per- 91% 95% 80% centage of defendants convicted of violent felony offenses in 89% WC this County in 2007 who were sentenced to prison/jail was 91% WC NYS NYS as compared to the state rate of 80%. We achieved these better than statewide felony conviction rates in a timely and expeditious manner. In 2007, statewide, prose- cutors required an average of 277 days to dispose of a felony case. Our Office required only 226 days to reach disposition. POST CONVICTIONS APPEALS This Office is equally successful in upholding the convictions it obtains. In 2007, a total of 175 felony appeals were brought to conclusion in the intermediate appellate courts. In 174 or 99.4% of those cases, the conviction remained intact. PROBATION In 2006, I returned the prosecution of probation violators to the District Attorney’s Office. Defendants who are convicted of lower grade felonies and who are not predicate felony offenders may be sentenced by the court to as much as 10 years proba- tion as monitored by the Westchester County Department of Probation (WCDOP). When a probationer violates the conditions of probation, the WCDOP will file a violation petition and this Office will prosecute the offender, seeking incarceration where appropriate. In 2007, 264 violators were prosecuted by our Office; 181 violators were resentenced to incarceration. STATE PRISON ON A VIOLATION OF PROBATION In 2002, defendant Richard Nadal was convicted of grand larceny in the fourth degree for stealing a car and sentenced to pro- bation. He first violated probation in 2004 and was resentenced to continued probation. On October 4, 2006, the defendant again violated probation. In prosecuting this second violation, my Office affirmatively sought a state prison resentence as the defendant had committed new crimes while he was on probation. After a hearing at which we sustained our burden of proof, the defendant was resentenced to 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison, the maximum sentence allowed for his original conviction. 2 HOMICIDES All homicide cases are vertically prosecuted by veteran trial assistants who are available 24 hours a day on a rotating sched- ule to respond to fatality scenes throughout the County and to provide legal advice to the police from the start of the investiga- tion. The determination of the cause of death for a suspicious fatality requires a complete death scene investigation with at- tending forensic analysis of the evidence, an accident reconstruction for vehicular deaths, the medical examiner’s autopsy, and a thorough police investigation, including witness interviews. As the investigation proceeds, the case is regularly re- viewed by the Office’s top trial lawyers. Before the matter is presented to a Grand Jury, a presentation of all the legally admis- sible evidence must first be made to the Homicide Review Committee which includes the District Attor- Homicides Reported in 2007 ney. Vehicular In 2007, homicide assistants opened 103 fatality re- Hom icide s ports and investigations were commenced to deter- 8 mine the cause of death in each case; 5 of which were “cold cases” as the deaths occurred several Hom icide s 27 years ago. There were 35 homicides; 27 (including 2 cold cases) were classified as murders or manslaugh- ters and 8 were vehicular homicides. The Office filed 25 charges in the 35 homicide cases against 30 de- fendants as a result of