The Exclusionary Rule

Q&A: Janet DiFiore

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who went to law school determined to become a prosecutor, recently was installed as president of an association that speaks for all of New York's 62 district attorneys on criminal justice policy issues.

Ms. DiFiore, 55, was hired by the Westchester County District Attorney's Office right after graduating from St. John's University School of Law in 1981. She worked for a private firm from 1987 to 1994 but returned to the district attorney's office.

She was elected to County Court in 1998 and to Supreme Court in 2002. She served as supervising judge of criminal courts in the mid-Hudson region's Ninth Judicial District.

A life-long resident of Westchester County, she was elected district attorney in 2005 and re-elected in 2009. According to state statistics, the office prosecuted more than 5,000 felonies and 11,000 misdemeanors last year.

Ms. DiFiore also serves as co-chair to Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's Justice Task Force, which was established to determine why innocent people were convicted and to recommend ways to prevent future mistakes.

As district attorney, Ms. DiFiore in 2006 moved for the dismissal of charges against Jeffrey Deskovic, who was convicted of the 1989 rape and strangulation of a classmate. Ms. DiFiore apologized to Mr. Deskovic and commissioned a special report on "what went wrong" in the case.

Q: What are the major priorities of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY)? Has the organization been effective in getting a hearing for its positions in Albany?

A: For more than 100 years, the district attorneys association has worked to improve our criminal justice system and enhance public safety in New York state, and these remain our most important priorities. DAASNY provides an important voice for New York's 62 district attorneys, advocating on legislative proposals, litigating in state and federal courts on matters of importance to prosecutors and the public, and participating in the public debates that affect criminal justice policy and practice. My predecessors have worked successfully to expand our presence in Albany, so that when legislators consider proposals affecting public safety and criminal practice, they have the benefit of the experience and perspective of prosecutors throughout the state. Working with my very able colleagues in DAASNY, I plan to build on the work they have done to ensure that our voice is heard in Albany on all matters of public safety.

FourthAmendment.com - Post details: Monty Python, John Roberts ...

Go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
— Williams v. Nix "In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
— Martin Niemöller

"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
— Johnson v.