Division of Criminal Justice Advisory Board
Via Teams
Minutes of the Meeting of June 7, 2023
The virtual Teams meeting was called to order at 11:02 a.m. by State's Attorney Michael A. Gailor.
Also present: Chief State's Attorney Patrick J. Griffin, 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), Sharmese L. Walcott (Hartford), David R. Shannon (Litchfield), Michael A. Gailor (Middlesex), John P. Doyle, Jr. (New Haven), Paul J. Narducci (New London), Paul J. Ferencek (Stamford/Norwalk), Matthew C. Gedansky (Tolland), Maureen T. Platt (Waterbury), and Anne F. Mahoney (Windham).
Also Present: Executive Assistant State’s Attorneys Lisa M. D’Angelo, Gail Hardy and Brett Salafia, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorneys David Kutzner and Vincent Duva, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy J. Sugrue, Manager of Research and Planning Kyle Baudoin, Senior Assistant Adrienne Russo, Chief Inspectors Michael Sullivan and Fred Haddad and Marisa DePhillips, Executive Secretary to the Chief State’s Attorney.
MINUTES
A motion to accept the minutes from the May 3, 2023 Division of Criminal Justice Advisory Board meeting was made by State's Attorney Margaret E. Kelly and seconded by State's Attorney Paul J. Ferencek. It passed unanimously.
MANAGEMENT
Deputy Chief State's Attorney John J. Russotto reported on the Management Committee meeting which was held virtually on June 7, 2023 at 10:00 am. During that meeting, the following was discussed:
(1) The starting salary for Deputy Assistant State's Attorneys has been increased to $91,000 (step 1). New hires may be eligible to begin at step 2 ($94,000) depending on prior experience with law review, clerkships, etc. Lateral hires with significant prior trial experience may be eligible to begin at steps 3 through 7.
(2) Deputy Chief State's Attorney Russotto also presented surveys pertaining to the new prosecutorial appraisal form and how State's Attorneys envision the functioning of a modern prosecutor’s office. These surveys will be discussed in the future.
OPERATIONS
State's Attorney Maureen Platt reported that at the most recent Operations Committee meeting, a new Division of Criminal Justice Discovery Policy was approved by the committee as well as by the Discovery Working Group. A future vote on a Division policy requiring notification to victims when habeas corpus petitions are filed will be discussed at the committee’s July or August meeting. State's Attorney Platt also reported that the state lab is asking that analysis requests for latent prints on small hand tools be discontinued as the recovery rate is exceedingly low. The lab would like to divert any such requests directly to the DNA section. Additionally, State's Attorney Platt reported that the issue of freezing funds in cryptocurrency cases was briefly discussed, and that further information on the matter would be forthcoming at the committee’s August meeting. Finally, State's Attorney Platt reported that at the meeting, State's Attorney Ferencek raised the issue of whether Governor Lamont’s COVID-related Executive Order 7G, in which he suspended various judicial branch time limitations, pertained to the statute of limitations for prosecutions contained in GS §54-193 et seq. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Timothy J. Sugrue was consulted on the matter. The consensus was that the Order did not encompass §54-193.
PEER REVIEW UPDATE
Deputy Chief State's Attorney Russotto reported that two State's Attorney reviews are pending. Once finalized, all State's Attorney reviews for 2022 will be completed.
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS
State's Attorney Ferencek inquired whether there was a conflict in utilizing former prosecutor and newly appointed Judge of the Superior Court Yamini Menon to review search and arrest warrants as well as risk warrants and applications for risk protection orders. Judge Menon worked in the Stamford State’s Attorney’s office and is now assigned to the civil court in Stamford. Due to a dearth of criminal judges at the Stamford courthouse, civil judges are routinely asked to review criminal warrants. The consensus of the group was that there is no conflict. State's Attorney Walcott agreed but advised not utilizing Judge Menon for the first three months of her assignment to Stamford. She followed this approach in a similar situation at the Hartford courthouse.
OTHER BUSINESS
State's Attorney Ferencek related an incident in his jurisdiction where a joint federal and New York Police Department task force requested the assistance of local police to make a narcotics arrest where a federal confidential informant posed as the buyer. The process for obtaining disclosure of the confidential informant by federal authorities was discussed.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made at 11:26 a.m. by Deputy Chief State's Attorney Russotto. State's Attorney Corradino seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.