Queens DA facing two challengers in Democratic primary

QUEENS - It’s the second most populous borough in New York City – Queens New York.

But it’s a borough that has also seen its share of major crime over the past few years, particularly retail theft. And now the fight to be the borough’s lead prosecutor is well underway, with three candidates vying for the position in the Democratic primary.

The incumbent is District Attorney Melinda Katz, who says over the past 3 years she has been fighting crime while also fighting for justice.

"I believe that you can have safety on the streets and fairness and equity in the courtroom at the same time," Katz explained. "There are those that say you can't and they're lying. You can do both. I prove it every single day."

Katz has been a licensed attorney for 30 years. She served as a City Council member, State Assembly member, and Borough President of Queens before running for DA in 2019. In June, Katz won the tough, crowded primary by just 60 votes, giving Queens a new district attorney for the first time in almost three decades.

But once Katz took office in January 2020, it was hardly smooth sailing. The pandemic forced the courts to close and the state’s new bail laws went into effect. Katz had advocated for these bail laws and for eliminating cash bail, but she also said that the laws put in place by the state legislature went too far.

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Since then, there have been additional changes to the bail law, such as removing the least restrictive means standard allowing judges more discretion when setting bail, but Katz says she would like to see more.

"I would like to see added a dangerousness or a risk to the community component," Katz said. "But I work with the laws we have and I still do my job."

But Katz’s main challenger, former Judge George Grasso argues that she is not doing nearly enough to tackle crime in the borough, prompting Grasso to leave his judgeship to enter the race for District Attorney.

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"She tries to say I'm cherry-picking when we're talking about major felony index crime," Grasso explained. "If you’re a district attorney, the chief law enforcement officer in the county you serve, and you deny the problem even exists, how are you ever going to deal with the problem systemically? So I am not only acknowledging the problem, I have a plan to deal with it."

Grasso has an extensive background in the NYPD, becoming the first Italian American to serve as First Deputy police commissioner in 2002, worked as an attorney prosecuting NYPD misconduct cases, and later served as the Administrative Judge for Queens County Supreme Court.

Grasso says the state’s bail laws, while well-intentioned, were improperly conceived and has blamed Katz for not doing enough to fix them.

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"I believe that all the work that I've done in over 40 years in the criminal justice system is being undermined by so-called criminal justice reform that took place in 2019," Grasso explained.

Grasso says his plan to tackle crime would be to create five community action boards throughout Queens made up of community representatives and NYPD commanders. These boards would advise the DA on strategies to reduce crime while increasing community partnership.

"It's crime and accountability, not crime and punishment," Grasso said. "I want to put you in a place to give you programming and give you support. But your end of the bargain is you can't continue to recidivate, you can't keep committing new crimes."

Both candidates pledge to go after gun violence.

Katz says one of her biggest accomplishments so far is prosecuting gun charges and gang violence in the borough. Just recently Katz indicted 33 gang members in connection with 23 separate shootings.

Katz says the next step now is tackling retail theft and points to four pilot projects in different precincts.

"It’s actually working quite well," Katz said. "So for instance in Southeast Queens, we handed out what we call trespass affidavits about 26 of them. Only three people actually came back and were arrested after that. So we send the message out that this will not be tolerated."

Both candidates have also faced their share of criticism.

Critics to the left of Katz say she pledged not to prosecute sex workers while pointing to a number of these arrests.

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"We give a chance for anyone in that business to get out of the business," Katz said. "So we make sure that it goes to human trafficking court if you're being accused of sex work or prostitution, you go to human trafficking court."

For Grasso, he has been courting some Republican voters, telling one publication that Democratic clubs won’t have him since they already endorsed Katz.

Grasso describes himself as a left-leaning centrist which he says means:

"I'm not right-wing," Grasso insisted. "I'm down the center of the plate in the context of the current world we live in. I'm just someone who says what he believes and does what he believes. And that's why I'm running for District Attorney."

The third candidate in this primary hasn’t really done any campaigning and entered the race less than two months ago.

Devian Daniels is running to the left of Katz and has only raised a fraction of what the other two candidates have raised. Daniels has run for Queens City Court Judge twice unsuccessfully but has practiced law for more than 16 years.

"It’s really important that the District Attorney not just prosecute active crimes that are happening, but also have a plan to try to stop crime," Daniels said. "As a DA, I want to come up with programs that will address those issues."

Right now, Katz is leading when it comes to fundraising and in endorsements.

Grasso says he is going to run on the public safety line in the general election even if he loses this primary race.