(Hartford, CT) - The Honorable Andrew J. McDonald, Chair of the Criminal Justice Commission, announced today that the Commission has appointed David R. Applegate as State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk.
Attorney Applegate, who currently serves as State’s Attorney for the Danbury Judicial District, was appointed by a unanimous vote of the Commission during a meeting today at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
“On behalf of the Commission, I am pleased to congratulate Attorney Applegate on his appointment as State’s Attorney for the Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District,” Justice McDonald said. “His four years of leadership as State’s Attorney in the Danbury Judicial District, along with his extensive prosecutorial experience have prepared him well for this new role.”
Attorney Applegate was appointed for an eight-year term succeeding Paul J. Ferencek who will be retiring effective June 30, 2026, after serving as Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District State’s Attorney since May 2020. To read an announcement regarding the retirement of State’s Attorney Ferencek, click this link.
State’s Attorney Applegate joined the Division of Criminal Justice in 2006, serving in the Stamford State’s Attorney’s Office until 2015, when he transferred to the Cold Case/Shooting Task Force Bureau in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney in Rocky Hill. In 2018, he joined the Office of the State’s Attorney in the Fairfield (now Bridgeport) Judicial District. In July 2022, he was appointed State’s Attorney for the Danbury Judicial District.
State’s Attorney Applegate serves on the Training, Technology and Legislative Committees for the Division. He has served on the Danbury Mayor’s Community Advisory Committee, the Newtown Public Safety Committee and has participated in local citizens’ police academies.
State’s Attorney Applegate earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science cum laude from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a Juris Doctor Degree from Brooklyn Law School in New York.
State’s Attorney Applegate will be chief law enforcement officer for the Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District, which includes the cities of Stamford and Norwalk and towns of New Canaan, Weston, Westport and Wilton. The State’s Attorney oversees prosecutors and other staff serving the Judicial District and Juvenile Matters courts in Stamford, the Geographical Area court in Stamford and shares oversight of criminal housing matters prosecuted in Bridgeport.
Connecticut’s State's Attorneys are constitutional officers and, along with the Chief State’s Attorney, are constitutionally vested with the prosecutorial power of the state. The State’s Attorneys are the chief prosecuting attorneys acting on behalf of the state in each of their respective Judicial Districts. Connecticut is one of the few states that do not elect their chief prosecutors. In lieu of such elections, the Criminal Justice Commission is an autonomous body constitutionally charged with appointing all state prosecutors in Connecticut.
In addition to Justice McDonald, Senior Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, the Commission's membership includes Chief Judge of the Appellate Court Melanie L. Cradle, Attorneys Robert M. Berke, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Scott J. Murphy and Moy N. Ogilvie and Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin.
