Chief State’s Attorney’s Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting of November 2, 2022

The meeting was called to order at 12:36 p.m. by Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin.

Also present: Deputy Chief State’s Attorney of Operations Kevin D. Lawlor; Deputy Chief State’s Attorney of Administration, Personnel and Finance John J. Russotto, Deputy Chief State’s Attorney, Inspector General Robert J. Devlin, Jr., State’s Attorneys Margaret E. Kelley (Ansonia/Milford), David R. Applegate (Danbury), Joseph T. Corradino, (Fairfield), David R. Shannon (Litchfield), Christian M. Watson (New Britain), John P. Doyle, Jr. (New Haven), Paul J. Narducci (New London), Paul J. Ferencek (Stamford/Norwalk), Matthew C. Gedansky (Tolland), Maureen Platt (Waterbury), and Anne F. Mahoney (Windham).

Also Present: Executive Assistant State’s Attorneys Lisa M. D’Angelo, Gail Hardy, and Brett Salafia, Chief Inspectors Frederick P. Haddad, Jr. and Michael P. Sullivan, Acting Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy Sugrue, Legislative Liaison Anne Cournoyer, Manager of Research and Planning Kyle Baudoin, Executive Secretary Marisa DePhillips and Labor Relations Administrator AnneMarie Paone-Mullin.

Invited Guests: From the State of Connecticut Division of Scientific Services - Guy M. Vallaro, Director of the Connecticut Forensic Laboratory, Cheryl Carreiro, Assistant Director of Forensic Biology and DNA, Deputy Directors Pamela Hofsass (Biology), Michael Rickenbach (Chemical Analysis) and Lucinda Lopes-Phelan (Identification).   From the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Superior Court Operations - Tais Ericson, Krista Hess, Ralph Dagostine, and Stacey Manware; and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy Costello, Appellate Bureau.

State’s Attorney Kelley moved to accept the minutes of the October 5, 2022 meeting. State’s Attorney Platt seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Chief State’s Attorney Griffin recognized State’s Attorney Walcott as a recipient of the “Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence's Advocacy in Action Award” and thanked State’s Attorney Mahoney for bringing this to his attention.

Chief State’s Attorney Griffin introduced invited guests from the State of Connecticut Division of Scientific Services and turned the meeting over to them for their presentation.

For the next presentation, Chief State’s Attorney Griffin introduced the invited guests from the Connecticut Judicial Branch to discuss how the Division and the Judicial Branch will be moving forward on new ways to handle infractions.

Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Costello led a discussion on the analysis he did regarding Connecticut’s “Red Flag” law.

Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Russotto provided an update regarding upcoming scheduled Criminal Justice Commission meetings to interview candidates for vacant positions. He said the Commission has worked to fill vacancies left by the many retirements at the Division earlier in the year. Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Russotto also reported that there was no news on the budget other than to confirm it had been submitted.

Chief State’s Attorney Griffin reported that the Legislative Committee met recently to discuss new business and that he is asking the Appellate Bureau to review new legislative proposals.

Executive Assistant State’s Attorney D’Angelo reviewed recent trainings offered and upcoming scheduled trainings, including the Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney “boot camp” and visits to correctional facilities. State’s Attorneys were invited to the upcoming Community Engagement Board Meeting.

In other business, Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Lawlor discussed the holiday effort the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney has been making for the past two years to support the Veterans Administration in Rocky Hill and asked State’s Attorneys if they would like to join in to make it a Division-wide drive to benefit both the Veterans Administration and another group.

There being no further business, State’s Attorney Mahoney made a motion to adjourn. State’s Attorney Ferencek seconded the motion and it passed without opposition. The meeting was adjourned at 2:46 p.m.