Queens DA Election: Melinda Katz Up Against GOP's Joe Murray

QUEENS, NY — Voters in Queens head to the polls Tuesday to choose their next district attorney, one of the most powerful positions in the criminal justice system.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who narrowly defeated public defender Tiffany Cabán for the Democratic nomination in June, will face off against Republican nominee Joe Murray, a defense lawyer and former NYPD cop, for a four-year term as the borough's next top prosecutor.

Katz received a law degree from St. John's School of Law and previously served as a member of the New York Assembly and the City Council, where she chaired the Land Use Committee. If elected DA, she has pledged to form a conviction integrity unit to review decisions and to bolster diversion programs.

"I have experience in the borough to effectuate the change that's needed in the DA's office from top to bottom," she told Patch in an interview this spring.

Murray, a registered Democrat who voted for Donald Trump, was able to secure the GOP nomination through the state's Wilson-Pakula law, the Queens Daily Eagle reported. The Bellerose resident works as a defense attorney and previously served with the NYPD's 115th Precinct, though he left after an altercation with another officer, according to the Eagle.

He's running on a platform of "common sense" criminal justice reform as opposed to the expansive changes endorsed by many progressives, he told THE CITY: "I'm totally against all this progressive stuff they want to do like closing Rikers Island, against no cash bail."

This election will determine who succeeds Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, who died on May 4, 2019. Chief Assistant District Attorney John M. Ryan, who has been serving in Brown's place, told the Queens Daily Eagle he will resign when the next DA takes office.

The Queens DA leads a team of about 300 assistant district attorneys, who argue criminal cases on behalf of the borough.

After police make an arrest, district attorneys have the power to decide whether to pursue a case against that person or decline to prosecute. They and their assistant prosecutors decide what charges the accused person will face and, if the person is found guilty, recommend the parameters of the punishment that person will serve.

"Prosecutors have unbelievable discretion," Katie Schaffer told The Appeal, a nonprofit that reports on the criminal justice system. Schaffer is a New York organizer with JustLeadershipUSA, a group that supports reducing incarceration. "The criminal code is really written like a menu of options for prosecutors."

Yet the vast majority of prosecutors run unopposed, making the Queens election an anomaly.

For more information on when and where to vote, click here.