PERSON OF THE YEAR
GONZALEZ
shaped the work of the Conviction
Review Unit set up by your predecessor
back in 2014. Are you pursuing
different types of cases? Are you
expanding the unit? What goals do
you have for the unit in 2019?
EG: Not long after Thompson took
offi ce, he tasked me with creating the
Conviction Review Unit, and I have
been intimately involved with its work
from the start. I helped choose its
members and established an Independent
Review Panel of outside lawyers
who review its work and recommendations.
It is incumbent upon us, as prosecutors,
to be willing to admit mistakes
and have the courage to correct them
— and that has been the guiding principal
of Brooklyn’s Unit, whose ongoing
work examines a variety of cases,
not just homicides, even though those
crimes had been its initial focus. We’ve
already vacated 24 convictions, and
I expect that we will be able to make
some announcements on additional
cases soon.
And although the Unit is rightly
considered the best of its kind in the
country, we are not sitting on our laurels.
We’re working to make it more
transparent, and, with the guidance of
my new general counsel, the Unit has
been improving its protocols and plans
to make its reports public moving forward.
We are also partnering with the
Innocence Project to create a report
that evaluates the problems that led
COURIER L 44 IFE, JAN. 18–24, 2019 M B G
to these wrongful convictions, and offers
recommendations on how to avoid
them in the future.
SM: What is the single most important
piece of advice you would
give to aspiring prosecutors?
EG: Be committed to do justice.
Prosecutors have a very unique position
in the criminal justice system:
we are responsible for prosecuting
cases, but must also make sure justice
is done in each and every case.
That means that we can’t be just case
processors — we have to evaluate the
facts and circumstances of each case
and really look at the defendants and
ask, what is the best outcome for this
particular person and for the community?
This might be a new kind of thinking,
but this is the motivation I am
working to instill in my assistants.
And, to a large degree, the concept is
what Justice 2020 is all about.
Lightning Round
At the end of our chat, Gonzalez answered
a quick series of questions.
Favorite local restaurant: Spumoni
Gardens.
Last book read: “Rectify: The
Power of Restorative Justice After
Wrongful Conviction” by Lara Bazelon.
Last movie you saw: I took my
three sons to see “Bumblebee” over
the holidays.
Main news sources: I read the
New York Times, Daily News, the Post
… and also try to stay up to date with
the Marshall Project and other publications
that focus on criminal justice.
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez,
the fi rst Latino top prosecutor in
all of New York State, has shaped
and instituted several initiatives to
make the borough a fairer place since
being elected in 2017 — and before, in
his years as acting district attorney
following his predecessor’s 2016 death,
and while working as a prosecutor with
the offi ce since 1995.
Together, Gonzalez and his predecessor
Ken Thompson in 2014 established
Brooklyn’s fi rst Conviction Review
Unit, which has since overturned
two-dozen convictions as it continues
to reexamine questionable sentences.
But that Unit is far from Gonzalez’s
only effort to make Kings County more
equitable — read on for more policies
and programs our Brooklyn Person of
the Year spearheaded in his commitment
to delivering true justice for all:
Hate Crimes Bureau
Gonzalez in December announced
the formation of this Bureau dedicated
to investigating bigoted crimes following
a spike in bias-related attacks
across the borough in 2018.
The Bureau previously operated as
a unit within his offi ce’s Civil Rights
Bureau, but will now operate independently,
and work with the Police Department’s
Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate
any bias-motivated offenses,
prosecute the bigots who commit them,
and educate vulnerable communities
about how to protect themselves.
The district attorney tapped the former
head of his Civil Rights Bureau, assistant
district attorney Kelli Muse, to
lead the new Hate Crimes Bureau.
Marijuana policy
In September 2018, Gonzalez began
vacating certain lesser pot convictions,
following his decision earlier in
the year to stop prosecuting many folks
caught toking in public.
He hosted three free events last fall
and winter, where folks convicted of
some misdemeanor pot charges could
begin the process of clearing their criminal
records, which already resulted in
judges vacating more than two dozen
convictions .
And in December, Gonzalez moved
to vacate more than 1,400 open pot warrants
in court, saving hundreds more
from future arrests on charges his offi
ce doesn’t plan on prosecuting. That
month, he also announced a 98-percent
drop in arrest numbers for many minor
pot offenses in 2018, which he credited
to the success of his policy.
Project Clear
Gonzalez in October announced
that he would expand this program —
which offers drug users arrested for
carrying small amounts of illegal substances
a chance to receive treatment
for their habit and clear their record
without facing a judge — to the entire
borough, after debuting it in parts of
Southern Brooklyn in February 2018.
Project Clear offers suspects cuffed
for misdemeanor-possession charges
that merit a desk-appearance ticket the
chance to meet with a counselor not affi
liated with law enforcement, who will
provide treatment recommendations
on a case-by-case basis. And if the person
follows the plan laid within 30 days,
Gonzalez’s offi ce will decline to prosecute
the case, and the suspect’s arrest
record will be sealed.
Around 100 people have participated
in the program, and more than 70 have
completed it, said Gonzalez’s offi ce.
Immigrant protection
Gonzalez, while serving as acting
district attorney, in April 2017 launched
a new policy created to help immigrants
convicted of low-level offenses avoid deportation.
The policy calls on Brooklyn’s prosecutors
to try to secure guilty pleas
without using federal laws that could
detain or deport undocumented defendants,
or spell trouble for those looking
to become citizens. It also mandates
that prosecutors alert defendants to potential
immigration consequences of
their cases and — as long as it doesn’t
compromise public safety — work to
achieve what his offi ce calls an “immigration
neutral disposition.”
— Anna Spivak
‘Person’ worth imitating
WINNER: Gonzalez celebrated his rise to top prosecutor with his wife and three sons at a
victory party following his 2017 election to the offi ce. File photo by Zoe Freilich
Continued from page 42
SURROUNDED BY SUPPORTERS: Thompson’s widow Lu-Shawn Thompson and Public Advocate
Letitia James endorsed Gonzalez during his 2017 campaign. File photo by Caleb Caldwell