FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Rocky Hill, CT) - The Division of Criminal Justice today held its annual prosecutor training conference at the Sheraton Hartford-South Hotel in Rocky Hill that included instruction and discussion of various timely and critical topics for prosecutors’ professional development.
Presenters included Dr. James R. Gill, Chief Medical Examiner for the state of Connecticut, Office of State Ethics Executive Director Peter J. Lewandowski and Ethics Enforcement Officer Mark Wasielewski and Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Division of Scientific Services Deputy Director Lucinda Lopes-Phelan, Assistant Director of Identification Joseph Rainone and Forensic Science Examiner I Lisa Ragaza.
The annual training complements a series of new training initiatives implemented by Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin and the thirteen State’s Attorneys following the creation in July 2022 of the Division’s new Office of Ethics and Professional Standards, headed by Executive Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa M. D’Angelo.
Along with creation of that Office, a team of prosecutors led by Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney David M. Kutzner worked over the past year on the Connecticut Prosecution Standards, a guide that embodies the professionalism of prosecution in Connecticut. The guide, a compilation of best practices across the nation but tailored specifically to Connecticut, was unveiled at today’s training conference and distributed to the Division’s 219 prosecutors.
Chief State’s Attorney Griffin told the prosecutors in attendance at today’s conference that the standards are meant to provide guidance to prosecutors, to ensure consistency without undue regimentation and to remove unwarranted disparities in prosecutors’ practices across the state without sacrificing the flexibility that he said is crucial to the prosecutorial function.
“The standards are a memorialization of the Division’s long-standing and unwavering commitment to the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said. “These standards don’t create new burdens on prosecutors. They simply memorialize what the law is on one hand, and the commitment that we, and the generations of prosecutors before us, have had to the law. It is a public document in a sense in that we are telling the public who we are and what we stand for. Too often, others are ready to tell our story for us. It’s time we tell our own story.”
In addition to the presentations by Dr. Gill, the Office of State Ethics and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Division of Scientific Services, the training today featured a presentation on the state of the Division by John J. Russotto, Deputy Chief State’s Attorney of Administration, Personnel and Finance. There was also discussion on jury unanimity by Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy F. Costello, considerations in jury selection by Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy J. Sugrue and legal updates by Assistant State’s Attorney Sugrue and Assistant State’s Attorney Rocco A. Chiarenza, all of the Division’s Appellate Bureau.
Earlier this week, the Division hosted a training initiative for more than 100 participants at the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney in Rocky Hill on DNA collection, search warrant essentials, protective orders, victim compensation, cooperating witnesses and jailhouse informants and an overview of autopsy and toxicology. Training sessions were also held in the Judicial Districts of New Haven, New Britain, Waterbury, Hartford and Fairfield.
In the past year, the Office of Ethics and Professional Standards has hosted several training sessions for both Division staff and law enforcement officials from various agencies across Connecticut.
In September, the Division hosted the annual 2022 John M. Bailey Seminar for nearly 700 law enforcement officials, a comprehensive look at case law and legislative updates that included such topics as witness protection, cell phone extractions, internet crimes against children and a review of new provisions in Connecticut’s “Red Flag” law.