(Hartford, CT) - The Honorable Andrew J. McDonald, Chair of the Criminal Justice Commission, announced today that the Commission appointed Lisa M. D’Angelo as Deputy Chief State's Attorney of Operations for the Division of Criminal Justice, effective July 1, 2025, for a four-year term.
Attorney D’Angelo, who currently serves as an Executive Assistant State’s Attorney at the Division, was appointed by a unanimous vote of the Commission during a meeting today at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Attorney D’Angelo is the first woman in the history of the Division of Criminal Justice appointed to serve in one of the Division’s three Deputy Chief State’s Attorney positions.
She will succeed Attorney Kevin D. Lawlor, who is retiring after more than 30 years as a state prosecutor. (For more information regarding Attorney Lawlor’s retirement, click this link.)
“On behalf of the Commission, I would like to extend my congratulations to Attorney D’Angelo on her appointment as Deputy Chief State’s Attorney for Operations,” Justice McDonald said. “Her work as a prosecutor, that included time as a Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney in the New Haven Judicial District, and her work as an executive management staff member within the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, particularly in the areas of ethics, training and professional standards, has positioned her well to succeed in this role.”
Since her appointment in July 2022 to Executive Assistant State’s Attorney in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, Attorney D’Angelo has served as Director of the Office of Ethics and Professional Standards, a position within the Division created at the time of her appointment. In that role, she serves as the Division’s counsel in all matters and questions related to ethical conduct and professional standards and serves as the Division’s primary contact with the Police Officer Standards and Training Council and other law enforcement agencies.
The Office of Ethics and Professional Standards also is responsible for directing the development, implementation and evaluation of updated ethical and professional standards for the Division and the development and implementation of a comprehensive program of in-service staff development and training for prosecutors, inspectors and other Division staff. Under Attorney D’Angelo’s leadership, the Office of Ethics and Professional Standards conducted nearly 600 hours of training in 2023 and 2024. In addition, the Office has provided numerous training programs for law enforcement officers from departments throughout Connecticut and launched the Division’s first-ever “DCJ Camp Justice,” a weeklong free summer program for rising ninth-grade students, now in its third year.
Prior to her move to the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, Attorney D’Angelo served as a Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney in the Judicial District of New Haven. She joined the Division of Criminal Justice in 2005 as a Special Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney in the Regionalized Infractions Program and by 2006, she was working as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Geographical Area No. 23 in New Haven. In 2014, she moved to the Judicial District of New Haven where she was promoted to Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney in 2021. She is a certified law enforcement instructor with the State of Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council and an adjunct professor at Middlesex Community College.
Executive Assistant State’s Attorney D’Angelo earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology from the University of Connecticut and a Juris Doctor Degree cum laude from the Quinnipiac University School of Law.
The Deputy Chief State’s Attorney for Operations oversees the specialized bureaus and units of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney that investigate and prosecute statewide matters including public integrity violations, Medicaid fraud, Workers’ Compensation fraud, housing and complex matters involving more than one Judicial District.
In addition, the Deputy Chief State’s Attorney for Operations oversees the Statewide Prosecution Bureau, Conviction Integrity and Cold Case units, Housing Matters and Appellate and Civil Litigation bureaus, responsible for representing the state before the Connecticut Supreme Court and the Connecticut Appellate Court in appeals of criminal convictions and in the state and federal appeals courts on petitions for writs of habeas corpus.
Established under Article XXIII of the Connecticut Constitution, the Criminal Justice Commission is responsible for the appointment of 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.
By law, Chief State's Attorney Griffin cannot participate in the consideration of Deputy Chief State's Attorney applicants.