Chief State’s Attorney’s Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting of August 25, 2014
Office of the Chief State’s Attorney
Rocky Hill, Connecticut

The meeting was called to order at 12:40 p.m. by Chief State’s Attorney Kevin T. Kane.

In attendance were: State’s Attorneys David I. Cohen (Stamford-Norwalk), Michael Dearington (New Haven), Patricia M. Froehlich (Windham), Matthew C. Gedansky (Tolland), Gail P. Hardy (Hartford),  Kevin D. Lawlor (Ansonia-Milford), Peter A. McShane (Middlesex), Maureen Platt (Waterbury), Brian Preleski (New Britain), Stephen J. Sedensky III (Danbury), David Shepack (Litchfield) and John Smriga (Fairfield); and Deputy Chief State’s Attorneys Leonard C. Boyle and John J. Russotto.

Also present: Executive Assistant State’s Attorneys Brian Austin, Jr., and Michael A. Gailor, Communications and Legislative Specialist Mark A. Dupuis.

State’s Attorney McShane made a motion to approve the minutes of the July 21, 2014, meeting. The motion was seconded by State’s Attorney Lawlor and passed unanimously.

Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Russotto introduced Peter Zelez, who joined the Division as Director of Financial Services effective on this date. Mr. Zelez has 17 years in state service most recently as Fiscal Administrative Manager in the Connecticut Insurance Department.

Chief State’s Attorney Kane reported he is still examining the Brady/Giglio issues and the discussion will be postponed for a future meeting.

Chief State’s Attorney Kane reported that the Division is re-establishing a centralized approach to asset forfeiture matters. Any State’s Attorney’s office that wishes to continue to handle these matters locally is encouraged to do so.

Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Russotto reported that he is refining the list of positions to be filled with the 10 new positions included in the 2014-15 state budget.

Chief State’s Attorney Kane said the legislative committee is following the legislative response to the State Supreme Court ruling in Commissioner of Public Safety v. Freedom of Information Commission et al. The State’s Attorneys are asked to provide examples of specific cases or incidents addressed by the ruling.

State’s Attorney Froehlich reported that the State’s Attorneys’ Training Committee envisions using the same approach to the 2015 Annual Professional Development Conference for Prosecutors, except that the mandatory one-day statewide training would be on the Thursday and local training on the Friday of the two-day conference. The Training Committee has decided to meet on quarterly basis.

Executive Assistant State’s Attorney Gailor reported that the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project will be issuing a preliminary report in the near future on its study of traffic stops statistics.

State’s Attorney Platt made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by State’s Attorney Froehlich and passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.